Oracle
by Phoenix of Eternity
Summary: When an injury leaves Neji without his sight, the Hyuuga prodigy must decide for himself what fate he really bears. COMPLETE
1. Fragments

Disclaimer:_Naruto_ belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. There's no way I'm making money from this and absolutely no way I'm affiliated with the creative process of this series. 

Author's Notes: This story is AU, set sometime after Neji was made a jounin. I don't know why this came to me, and you Neji-lovers, I hope you forgive me.

Many thanks to my outstanding beta, Kilerkki. She made the wonderful suggestion to revisit an old canon plotline with the Cloud and approved of my story since the day the line "There are no blind Hyuuga" popped into my head. She also saved me from a nightmare of grammar issues. If you haven't already, check out her stories—they're brilliant. 

Also, much thanks to link no miko, Chevira Lowe, fifthgearlove, iamzuul, and other members of the Ima Made Nandomo RPG community who urged and inspired me to go through with this idea.

* * *

Oracle

Chapter One: Fragments

_. . . and Lee is standing there, left hand held behind his back, right hand positioned in front of him, in his characteristic fighting stance. Neji can't tell where Lee's wound is exactly, because from his position in the dirt the sun is right in his eyes, making Lee nothing but a dark silhouette against the painful light. But there's blood dripping off of Lee's fingertips and there's some on Neji, staining his pale shirt. Neji blinks and wonders whose blood it is . . ._

_. . . and Tenten makes a few last-minute adjustments to the positions of the weapons and scrolls she carries in her backpack. She is the top weapons specialist among the first, second, and even third year chuunin, and while Neji cannot see a method to the order and placement of the implements in her bag, Tenten obviously knows the best arrangement for her. She finally slings the bag onto her back and then their team is off, heading south from Konoha . . ._

_. . . and so he pivots on his right foot. "Hakkeshou kaiten!" The world is swirling crazily in a blue cloud of chakra, but Neji has long since gotten rid of any motion sickness that he might be prone to. He can feel the enemy kunai strike the chakra emitted from his tenketsu. An unfamiliar voice yells out indistinguishable words and then there's a horrible cracking sound and the world wrenches to a halt . . ._

"_. . . and to have bandit problems," the Hokage says in a voice equal parts concern and confidence. Concern for the feudal lord and confidence because she's sending the top jounin rookie and his two chuunin teammates. Neji, Tenten, and Lee listen intently as Tsunade details the situation, Lee hardly blinking, he is so focused on her words. When she finishes, Lee salutes her enthusiastically . . ._

_. . . and because Neji has been caught in one before, he knows what an ambush looks like. He immediately activates his Byakugan and finds the real threat behind the feudal lord's retainers. "From B to A," he says softly to his teammates, and they know that they are dealing with high-ranking enemy shinobi. Tenten and Lee move instantly into the familiar defensive formation . . ._

_. . . and the recent rains have washed away almost all trace of the bandits. Neji shakes his head in irritation—another trail lost. Tenten takes her frustration out on a nearby tree trunk, embedding half a dozen kunai into the old bark. Lee has his fists clenched, and Neji hopes that his teammate won't be setting up another self-destructive challenge for himself . . ._

_. . . and Tenten and Neji move to cover Lee for the precious seconds it will take for him to remove his weights. With his activated Byakugan, Neji sees Tenten reach into her pack for a fuuma shuriken. His eyes give him enough warning. "Kunai!" he shouts, but Lee is still on the ground and Tenten is facing in the wrong direction. They are his responsibility, and so he pivots on his right foot . . . _

_. . . and Lee sputters, wiping mud off of his face. Tenten laughs and Neji smirks because it's inconceivable that Lee could have been caught unaware by Tenten's outstretched foot. "Are you sure it's not _you_ who should be more careful?" she says innocently, turning around to admonish him. Lee scrapes the last mud off of his face and grins. Neji dodges the mud that splatters in his direction, but Tenten isn't as quick . . ._

_. . . and then Lee's screams stop as well. Neji commands his body to move, but it can't or it won't. He lies in the bloody mud as a Cloud-nin's face looms in front of him. She looks down at him impassively and begins to form a series of seals. Chakra gathers at her hands . . ._

* * *

_. . . and Neji screams, hands tearing at the seal on his forehead. His spine arches suddenly, lifting his back in an unnatural curve, and then just as abruptly snaps in the other direction. He thrashes on the ground, curled up like an infant, not breathing because he's still trying to scream. There's noise being made by others but he doesn't care because his mind is being shredded, it's burning in a fire that he can't control, his nails tear his flesh but he can't dig it out and there's blood in his eyes and it's in his mouth choking him but it's cooler than the flames that are turning his mind and his eyes to ash and it won't stop, _dear gods make it stop_, he's drowning in blood and fire and noise . . ._

* * *

_. . . and the world is swirling crazily . . ._

* * *

The first thing Neji recognizes is heat. It is not the fire that scoured his soul, but rather the comforting warmth of life. He welcomes its presence. The moments stretch on endlessly, and Neji slowly becomes aware of the feather touch of the wind gliding across his face. For an eon, that is all he is, the heat and the fingers of the wind, his skin the only part of him that still exists in the physical world.

But the ages pass, and the next sensation to return is that of motion. He knows that he is moving, but the why and how escape him completely. The motion is gentle and rhythmic and it joins the heat and the wind as the cornerstones of Neji's existence. The movement reminds him that he can breathe, and he does so, savoring the smell of damp leaves that fills him and mingles with the heat and the wind and the motion.

Heat and wind, movement and wet leaves. They encase Neji in a cocoon of tranquility and he fades once more, losing himself in what he is not.

* * *

"—_happened?"_

"_It was a trap. The feudal lord—"_

Neji hears the voices surrounding him. He knows that people are speaking, but the words don't make sense. All he knows is that the voices have taken the place of the wind, feathery touches that caress him but don't stay long enough to make sense.

"—_bandits were Cloud-nin—"_

Neji becomes aware of his breathing but the wet leaves are gone as well. The air should be familiar, but he can't place the stale smell.

"—_for two days—"_

He slowly becomes aware that the rhythmic, soothing movement has vanished, yet he doesn't mind because the absolute stillness is comforting in its own way.

"—_to his eyes—"_

Neji feels warm and heavy, and he immerses himself in the voices he knows but cannot comprehend. 

* * *

Neji wakes up completely this time instead of skimming past the real world. His reason has returned, so he tries to open his eyes. He can't.

Immediately Neji's hands shoot to his face. His frantic fingers press at the bandages, pain flaring instantly through his head and the curse seal, making him hiss loudly. _Dear gods, did they—_

There. He can feel his eyes through the bandages, where they belong. Because he knows the bandages are there for a reason, Neji refrains from taking them off to look around. It is enough to feel his eyes move beneath their lids, enough to know that they are still his.

With that moment of panic fading, Neji uses the remainder of his senses. He breathes in deeply, his nose picking up the bitter odor of ointment and the stale smell of air that has been circulated far too many times. His ears relay the gentle hum of sophisticated machinery and the soft tread of approaching footsteps.

The door makes a soft_thunk_ when it slides open completely. "Neji."

Neji turns his head in the speaker's direction. "Hokage-sama?" The position is awkward, lying down on what can only be one of Konoha's many hospital beds.

The door slides shut again. A few quick footsteps and then Neji feels her hand around his wrist, checking his pulse. He manages not to flinch from the unexpected contact. She is satisfied with whatever knowledge she has gleaned from his wrist and then releases him.

Neji levers himself into a seated position. "How are Lee and Tenten?" His voice sounds oddly weak in his own ears.

He hears the sound of a stool being dragged across the floor. The stool creaks slightly as Tsunade sits on it. "They'll be fine," the Hokage says shortly, and something about her clipped tone makes Neji go very still inside.

"Do you remember what they did to you?"

Neji nods, a slight incline of the head.

Tsunade pauses there, and then takes a breath to dive straight in. "You're blind, Neji."

Neji's fingernails dig into the flesh of his palms. "I still . . . they didn't take my eyes, Hokage-sama."

"They tried," Godaime says, and Neji hears her next words in a distracted, detached way. "From what I can gather, the Hyuuga curse seal activated when the Cloud medic tried to remove your eyes. It eliminated any trace of the Byakugan and completely destroyed your retina in the process."

Neji breathes her words in and out, simple sounds in an arrangement that make sense and no sense at all. They keep coming on a breeze that he can neither see nor stop as the Hokage explains how any tampering on her part will reactive the curse seal and will undoubtedly kill him.

Neji remembers the fire that turned his soul to ash once before and knows that he will experience it one final time.

* * *

He is sitting in the same position Tsunade left him when his uncle arrives.

Neji doesn't turn to face Hiashi because the movement is unnecessary and impractical. He is incapable of sight, and both men know it. Hiashi makes very little noise, his sandaled feet placed carefully on the tiled hospital floor. He stops at Neji's left side and doesn't hesitate to pronounce the sentence they both know he has to say.

"There are no blind Hyuuga."

Hiashi is a strong and wise Clan Head, strong enough to bend the Hyuuga laws and wise enough to know when and how. But Neji knows that Hiashi is not strong enough to shatter the laws, the laws that require the cursed seal, the laws that require any blinded Hyuuga's death, the laws that would force an uncle to kill his nephew to remove the threat a blind Hyuuga represents.

The laws that the Hokage is strictly forbidden to interfere in. Neji knows that Tsunade would try to intervene, did she know the purpose for Hiashi's visit. But she doesn't know, because the last time a Hyuuga was blinded she had already disappeared from the village.

Hyuuga Hikari was a member of the Branch Family, and the possibility of her capture by enemy shinobi for use in breeding or as a wellspring of Hyuuga secrets was quickly dealt with. Neji knows that it will be the same for him, for the Main Family is the only one ever allowed to choose the manner of death.

"There are no blind Hyuuga," Hiashi repeats, but Neji still doesn't turn in his uncle's direction. Neji has faced death before, but he has never faced death with bent neck, begging for life. He will not do it now.

Hyuuga Hizashi chose to die to protect the ones he loved. Neji will not put at risk what his father died for even though he still does not understand. He has picked at the lock of his cage as best he could, and now the metal door is about to swing open to the sky.

Cloth rustles, and then Hiashi takes Neji's hand. Neji leaves his fingers limp so that his uncle can easily manipulate them into forming the other half of the seal that will bring the fire back one last time. He knows that Hiashi will put as much of his strength into the killing jutsu as he can.

Instead of fire, cool metal presses gently into his palm. Hiashi guides Neji's fingers to close around the hilt of a kunai. "One month," Hiashi says, and he lets go of Neji's hand. "The honors of the Main Family."

Neji lowers the hand holding the kunai until it rests on his thigh. _Strong enough to bend, but not to break._ He turns in Hiashi's direction then, for he knows how much work it took for Hiashi to convince the Elders to let the Clan Head personally train a member of the Branch Family. Tradition is the backbone of Hyuuga, and although Hiashi rules, there were times in the past when the Elders did so in all but name.

For a moment Neji is four again, and he can hear his father's voice:

"_Neji, you must live."_

"Hiashi-sama. Thank you." 

* * *

To Be Continued

in

Chapter Two: Comrades


	2. Comrades

Disclaimer: If_Naruto_ belonged to me, Sakura would have gotten cooler much sooner than she did.

Author's Notes: Praise to Kilerkki for being a wonderful beta and fixing my grammar problems. Love to everyone who reviewed—comments like yours made my week. Additional thanks to iamzuul for helping me out with the sounds/smells of a hospital.

To those wondering about shipping, I'm sorry to disappoint. You are free to read whatever you like into the characters' interactions (like I could stop you anyway), but at this point I have no overt pairings in mind. I am not a romance writer by any stretch or contortion of the imagination.

And thus the experiment that is _Oracle_ continues . . . 

* * *

Oracle

Chapter Two: Comrades

Breakfast the next morning is an exercise in patience, but Neji is nothing if not deliberate. A nurse offered to feed him, but Neji refused the offer. A voice filled with pity is not what he wants, is not how he wants to begin his twenty-ninth day left of life. So he holds his chopsticks carefully and leans over his bowl of rice so that if he does manage to drop anything it will land in the bowl and not on him.

Not surprisingly, Neji finds that he has little appetite. He knows it has little to do with the food, and everything to do with the day before. He thought he was going to die, and now, inexplicably, he finds himself alive. Death he was prepared for, but life . . .

His uncle gave him life, the "honors of the Head Family." Twenty-nine days to live in darkness. Twenty-nine more days for what? (A small, insistent part of his mind wonders what his uncle had bargained with the Elders to gain these few days.) Yesterday, between the shock of being blind and the thought that Hiashi would immediately release his nephew from dishonor, Neji hadn't thought of anything beyond his father and his imminent death. But with the unexpected extension of mercy, Neji knows that he will have to think about many, many more things.

His teammates, for example.

The knock on the door is hesitant. Neji considers not answering. The knock comes again, a bit more confident this time. "Come in," he says finally, gently replacing the bowl of rice on the tray beside his bed. There is a clink of dish striking dish, but nothing breaks and nothing spills. He hears the door slide open and shut. There are two people, Neji decides from the footsteps that cross the room and stop at his bedside. One of them has crutches.

"Good morning, Neji-kun." It is Tenten's voice, blustering with a good cheer that Neji knows is false without even having to see her. He imagines the strained grin she wears when she's pretending to be happy. Lee echoes her greeting.

"Hokage-sama told me some of what happened after I got captured," Neji says instead of acknowledging their greetings. He knows what the next question will be, and he doesn't want to answer it, not yet. "But I want to hear it from you two."

Tenten does most of the speaking, Lee interjecting a few comments every now and then. They tell Neji how they both had been caught in a genjutsu and left unconscious, half dead; how Inuzuka Hana and Shiranui Genma had found them; how the four of them (and Hana's three dogs) had tracked the Cloud-nin for two days; how they rescued Neji just as the Cloud medic had been trying to remove Neji's eyes; how Lee had carried Neji and ran all the way back to Konohagakure; how Neji had been unconscious in the hospital for three days.

"They have a team out trying to capture the Cloud shinobi that got away," Tenten finishes.

Neji breathes deeply in the silence, and his nose catches the scents his teammates brought with them. The musk of sweat—Lee no doubt, driving the hospital staff mad from training excursions—mingles with the distinctive odor of the oil Tenten uses when she polishes her weapons. Both scents are nearly drowned out by the smell of air so clean it is now lifeless.

Irrationally, Neji wants the silence to stretch on for what is left of his forever. He wants to stay voiceless in the dark, prevent the thing beginning to stir within his gut from waking up.

Tenten gathers the courage first. "Hokage-sama . . . she wouldn't tell us how bad your injuries are. Just that she thought you'd prefer to tell us." He hears the fear in her voice that wars with the tiniest hint of hope.

Neji forces his hands to remain relaxed, resting on top of his hospital sheets. "I'm blind."

A sharp intake of breath, then, "Is it permanent?"

"Yes." His voice doesn't shake, but the monster in his gut twitches violently. "My resignation papers were submitted by my clan this morning."

"But—" Lee says, "can't Hokage-sama heal you? She healed me"—Neji can hear Lee's characteristic enthusiasm creep into the words—"even when the odds were so low."

"She can't." The beast is starting to move, a hard knot unraveling itself and tangling up his insides. "The surgery won't work on me."

Lee continues as if Neji never spoke. "I know! Since Gai-sensei's not here, I'll make you the same promise he—"

"Lee!" Neji's hands are clenched into fists and the monster is worming its way into his chest. "Hokage-sama was barely able to stabilize the curse seal, and if she does try to heal my eyes, the seal will kill me. It's not a matter of risk; I _will_ die." His insides are being crushed, strangled by the tendrils of the beast.

The silence that falls this time is polluted with rage and shock. Neji tries to push away the thing threatening to tear him apart from the inside.

"What are you going to do?" Tenten's voice is quiet and unsteady.

That slight tremor causes Neji's gut to tighten even more. Momentarily, he weighs his options, but simple truth wins in the end. "I am going to die." 

* * *

Neji is lying on his back staring at the ceiling he knows is there but will never see. A nurse came in shortly after his teammates left and removed the partially eaten breakfast and the bandages covering his eyes.

It was only when the bandages were gone and Neji opened his eyes that his blindness truly sank in. No matter how often he blinks, or in what direction he turns his head, the darkness doesn't change. Neji breathes slowly as the dregs of irrational hope die.

He estimates that he has been staring into the darkness for nearly an hour (it might be less, but he can't see the clock to tell the time) when someone knocks timidly on the door. "Come in," Neji says, and sits up, the paper lining of the mattress crinkling with his redistribution of weight.

Instead of sweat and oil, this person brings the scent of roses. "Neji-niisan."

"Hinata-sama," Neji acknowledges. He braces himself for the sleeping beast to waken again, but it sleeps on, fitfully. Apart from Hiashi's visit the night before, no one from the clan has come to visit. Not surprising, considering he has never been popular amongst the Main Family—the beast stirs a little at the memory of the near-lethal fight with Hinata—and his special status now probably doesn't sit well with those amongst the Branch. The closest living relative Neji has in the Branch left on a mission the day before he did, and they are not close.

Hinata's quiet footsteps cross from the door to the opposite side of his bed. He hears the tap of glass settling on wood. "I brought you a flower," she says, her voice growing louder as she turns around in his direction.

"You didn't need to," Neji says politely. "I'm going home tomorrow morning."

"But I wanted to . . ."

He stiffens at her tone. "I don't need your pity." He cannot endure it from his teammates, and he will not tolerate it from her. Not from the Heir, not from the one who will inherit the Hyuuga legacy of bitterness and blood. He doesn't hate Hinata, not anymore, but he is always aware that she is from the Main Family and he is not.

"It's not pity," she murmurs, and Neji imagines her head bowing self-consciously. "It's compassion." Her voice waivers on the last word. "There's nothing wrong with compassion."

Neji says nothing. He turns his thoughts inward, breathing shallowly, forcing the creature within his abdomen to stay asleep, stay docile. _This is not her fault_. The silence between them floats like a cloud of poison.

There is a scuffing sound; Hinata is shifting her weight from one side to another on the tiled floor. Neji knows that she wants to say something more or she would have left by now, but she says nothing. He wishes he could see her—he could always read her body-language—but he stamps that thought out ferociously. There is no point in wishing for something that will not happen.

He hears the scuffing sounds again, and Neji realizes that Hinata will not broach the subject on her own. He must get her talking at least so that she can speak her portion and then let him be. The question that has been needling his thoughts is a topic that should be answered in any case. "How did Hiashi-sama convince the Elders to give me this month?"

"He—" Hinata's voice hitches ever so slightly "—he couldn't convince them."

Neji finds that the air around him is suddenly much colder than it was before. Pressure is beginning to build up again inside of him, the beast weaving itself throughout his body.

"I did." Her voice is quiet, but to Neji it is the only sound in his universe. "I bargained with them. I—I'm not the Heir anymore." The chill in the air seeps through his skin, sinking deep into the core of the monster in his gut. Hinata keeps talking, the words spilling out almost uncontrollably. "It was the only thing I could think of that they'd accept."

Neji remembers the bargain Hiashi made over two years ago, after _that_ Chuunin Exam when Neji had shown his contempt for the Hyuuga and his power to the entire village. In exchange for teaching his nephew, Hiashi had given the Elders the right, under certain circumstances, to choose his successor. One of those circumstances was if there was no designated Heir. It was a minor concession, one Hiashi had thought was worthwhile at the time.

The beast is trying to squeeze his lungs and heart out of existence. "Did you remove yourself from succession completely?" Neji's voice is calm, but his mind is reeling, trying to reach the conclusion his body already senses. As Hinata explains that no, she is not out of succession, Neji turns his thoughts from what he will do before he dies to what will happen after he is dead.

With the right Hiashi gave the Elders, Neji knows that they were now able to choose which sister will inherit the leadership of the Hyuuga. It is well understood that Hanabi is a better kunoichi than her older sister and an open secret that most of the Elders favor her over Hinata.

Hyuuga tradition has remained largely unchanged since the day the first member of the Branch Family was given a curse seal. The one thing that remains unwavering, unbroken, is the responsibility of the Branch to protect the Main. Specifically, the appointment of a member of the Branch—less than one generation removed from the Main Family—to serve as the protector of the Heir. At the age of four, Neji was marked and given the charge of protecting Hinata.

The beast spasms, its tendrils shattering, shredding everything within him as Neji realizes what will happen after he dies.

Whatever sister is not chosen will be marked as a member of the Branch Family and take his position as the Heir's protector. Hinata will be branded, and Hanabi will rule.

"Why did you do it?" Neji is too angry to be surprised that his voice is loud and increasing in volume by the moment. "You've thrown it all away!"

"Wha—"

"The chance to change the Hyuuga!" He whips his head in Hinata's direction, his hand flung up, gesturing at his bare forehead and the curse seal that still blazes there. "Do you think Hanabi cares about the Branch House? Do you think she will, in all her arrogance, even consider trying to heal our clan?"

Years of frustration and bitterness battle against his despair and ruined hope, and the ensuing tempest threatens to drown him in the darkness of his universe. _This is _your_ fault_, a small part of his mind taunts. _If you had been a better shinobi, it wouldn't matter if she abdicated, because you would have been there to protect Hanabi, and Hinata would have held a position of power in the Main Family._ Neji feels his hands begin to shake, and he squeezes them into fists, pressing them hard against his mattress. _But in twenty-nine days you will die, and so will any hope of the Hyuuga changing._

"I didn't—I can't send Hanabi to the Branch House, not if there's a chance to stop it," Hinata says, and Neji hears the tremor in her voice that is only there when she is on the verge of tears. "And I couldn't just let you die."

Neji stares in the direction of the ceiling for a long time after she leaves. He breathes in the fragrance of the single flower in his room and thinks of Elders and bargains and traditions and the price Hinata has paid for his life. 

* * *

To Be Continued

in

Chapter Three: Navigation


	3. Navigation

Disclaimer: The only things that belong to me are the plot, the original characters, and this particular representation of the Hyuuga and their politics.

Author's Notes: Undying gratitude to Kilerkki for beta-ing, link no miko for her continual encouragement (and lending of a name), and sna for her feedback. Additional love to all of those who have reviewed.

Sorry for the delay, but things got in the way: end of summer, muse problems, the first month of school, etc. However, _Oracle_ has been completely outlined, and barring any huge changes, the story will clock out at nine chapters. 

* * *

Oracle

Chapter Three: Navigation

On the morning of his twenty-eighth day, Neji is woken up by the sunlight streaming through the window and onto his face. His darkness doesn't change, but his face and neck are warm. A little over a week ago the changes in the lighting would have snapped him out of slumber before his face had time to get hot.

Neji sits up slowly, wondering what time it is and how much longer he has left in the hospital. He didn't sleep well last night, waking every few hours. Every time he woke up, Hinata's voice wavered through his mind.

"_I couldn't just let you die."_

She is too soft for the Hyuuga.

Neji reaches carefully with his right hand toward the small bedside table. He asked the nurse last night to give him something so he would be ready in the morning. His fingertips brush something soft, and he grasps it in his hand, pulling it toward his bed. With his calloused hands, Neji feels out the long strip of bandages before expertly wrapping it around his forehead and over the seal. His hands slow only momentarily as he realizes that he won't have the seal for much longer.

They do not bring breakfast this morning, but Neji doesn't mind as he finds that his appetite still hasn't returned. He waits, feeling the sunshine on his skin, thinking in the silence. It isn't long before Neji's door slides open and a soft, slow set of footsteps enters. "Good morning, Neji-kun."

Neji's eyebrows furrow slightly together. It is unmistakably a man's voice—an elderly man, if the slightly-trembling bass is anything to go by—but one he can't place. He doesn't hear a cane, so the man is capable of walking without assistance.

"Ah," the old man says, and Neji catches the faint amusement in the other's voice, "I can see you don't recognize me."

"No," Neji responds. His fingers are laced together, hands resting in his lap. He will not let this man get a rise out of him. Very few Hyuuga lose their mental capacities with age, and unless this man is one of the rare exceptions, Neji suspects that the choice of words is deliberately insulting.

"I am Hyuuga Hiroki," the man says, and there's a faint movement of cloth that suggests he has bowed to Neji. "One of the Elders."

"Hiroki-sama," Neji says respectfully, and inclines his head deeply in the direction of the Elder. Mentally, Neji reviews what he knows of the convoluted Hyuuga genealogy. "Then you are my maternal aunt's father-in-law?"

"That's correct," Hiroki says, and Neji hears the man take several more steps toward his bed. "Your first cousin, Hotaru, is my only granddaughter." He sighs then and his footsteps come right up to Neji's bed. There is a soft thump as something drops onto the foot of the bed. "In any case, I've brought you an undamaged change of clothing and sandals. Once you're dressed, I will escort you back to the estate."

Hiroki keeps his silence while Neji climbs out from under the thin hospital sheet and to the opposite side of the bed. His feet settle carefully on the sun-warmed floor; his legs support him without complaint, so he turns back to face the bed.

Neji's left hand stays on the bed while the fingers of his right hand skim across the bed sheets in search of the bundle of clothing. His hand runs into the sandals first, so he keeps searching. There. He grabs the fine cotton fabric, running both hands over the cloth. Neji's fingers locate the waistband and the pockets. It's no different than the hundreds of time's he's dressed in the pre-dawn darkness of his own room, he tells himself as he slips on the pants underneath his hospital gown.

He pulls the gown off over his head and places it carefully on the bed. He locates the remaining clothing—a happi coat judging from the length and cut—and puts it on as quickly as dignity allows, tying the sash around his waist. Briefly he wonders what color the clothes are, but decides it is irrelevant. The Elders will not draw attention to him by supplying him with glaringly colored clothing.

Hiroki makes a humming noise as Neji slips on the sandals. Neji's hands move once more to the bed, but this time to the opposite end, searching for the kunai lying beneath the pillow. Once he finds it, he carefully tucks the weapon into the sash near the small of his back. It reassures him, knowing he has a weapon within reach. Neji stands unmoving by the bed, uncertain as to what he should do next. The Hyuuga Elder takes that choice from him. A few quick steps and then the man is beside Neji. He stiffens automatically when a hand grabs him just above his right elbow.

"Come now," Hiroki says, and Neji hears a trace of amusement in the gravelly voice. "Surely you're not going to deny an old man some assistance on the long walk home." Hiroki threads his arm about Neji's elbow and then pulls slightly on the younger man. Neji feels his anger growing—the man is mocking him by claiming he needs Neji's support when it is really the other way around. The Hyuuga are not a physical clan, and to have an Elder cling to a member of the Branch family under the pretext of support shames them both.

The first few steps Neji takes are hesitant, despite the guiding pressure on his arm and his resolve to act as if nothing has changed. His feet move tentatively and he resists the impulse to stick out his free left hand to feel for obstructions. He knows that Hiroki won't intentionally run him into anything, but he finds himself distrustful all the same.

Hiroki makes a _tsk_-ing sound. "Walk normally, boy. You might be blind, but the rest of your body works just fine."

Neji bites back the angry words threatening to break out. But his steps lengthen and his shoulders straighten all the same.

Hiroki starts humming again, and Neji can hear the self-satisfaction in the man's voice. 

* * *

The check-out process finishes quickly, and then Neji is out in the morning streets. He breathes in the summer air, catching the scent of the roses planted at the hospital entrance. Another tug on the arm and Hiroki leads Neji away.

They walk in silence for several seconds. Neji's brow furrows as he tries to gain his bearings. He concentrates, focusing on feeling the sunshine on his skin.

"Where are you taking me?" Neji asks quietly after a moment.

"Hmm?" Hiroki sounds bemused. "Where do you think I'm taking you?"

Neji points his free hand to the left. "The estate is to the southwest from the hospital's main entrance. We're heading southeast."

"Yes, we are, aren't we?" Hiroki muses and keeps walking in the wrong direction. Neji has no other choice than to be pulled along or stop dead in the street and demand petulantly to be taken home. Even if he were inclined to make demands of Elders, Neji wouldn't do it with witnesses—he can sense the presence of civilians and the scattered chakra signatures of off-duty ninja close by.

Hiroki does not seem as if he will answer the question, so Neji uses the silence to explore his remaining senses in the outside world. Taste doesn't help much to tell him what's going on in the world around him; smell isn't of much use either for he can't smell with the intensity or depth of an Inuzuka. Touch is perhaps his best sense thus far—he can feel the warm sunlight on his skin and the sandals are thin enough that he can tell when he steps on a pebble.

Neji and Hiroki pass two women talking animatedly. He can hear their words easily and their footsteps if he focuses. But it is his ability to sense chakra that reveals the presence of the child in one of the women's arms. These women are definitely civilians; their chakra is weak and undisciplined. In contrast, Hiroki's chakra, while weak, is tightly focused.

Once the women are out of earshot, Hiroki speaks again. "Hiashi-sama is meeting with Godaime-sama this morning," he says, and the lightheartedness is gone from his voice. "They captured the Kumo-nin that blinded you."

Neji keeps his breathing even and slow as Hiroki continues. "Hiashi-sama is seeking compensation from the Raikage, but I doubt Godaime-sama will push for it. The Raikage claims that your capture was the independent action of missing-nin." There is contempt in the Elder's voice. "Godaime-sama has at least promised to give custody of the prisoners to us once Interrogation is done with them."

Neji's anger is much greater now, and he finds that his fists are clenched so hard into fists that they're threatening to tremble. Twelve years ago, the Raikage tried to obtain the Byakugan, and Hizashi died because of it. Now the second attempt to steal the famous bloodline means death for Hizashi's son.

He tries to force the anger and bitterness away. Neji knows there is nothing he can do to change the past or his future. "Why are you telling me this?" he asks, his words short and harsh.

If he hears the suppressed emotion in Neji's voice, Hiroki gives no sign of it. "In a week you will be called before the Elders to inform us how you wish to die." His tone is even and unconcerned, as if he is discussing the execution date of a condemned traitor. "Provided the method doesn't prolong your life beyond your allotted time and is within reason, we're bound to honor your request."

"_I bargained with them. I—I'm not the Heir anymore. It was the only thing I could think of that they'd accept."_

"Anything I request?"

"Within reason," Hiroki says, and the amusement is back in his voice, a vocal smile. He pats Neji's right arm a little, akin to the affection a doting grandfather would bestow upon his only grandchild. "Let's head to the estate now, shall we? I dare say we've prolonged our walk enough."

Hiroki's humming is non-obtrusive background noise to Neji's thoughts. 

* * *

"Your room," Hiroki says and finally releases Neji's arm. The sudden disappearance of his physical anchor is momentarily disorienting. Neji reaches out with his left hand, fingertips brushing the sliding door to his room. Instead of leaving his sandals in the entrance way, Neji carries them in his right hand. There is no way he can be sure to find his own shoes again if he leaves them with the rest. His hand searches for the crevice between the wall and the frame and gently guides the door open.

"Hiroki-sama." Neji's voice is quiet, but it is not the stillness borne of respect. "What are you trying to accomplish?" His hand has a secure grasp on the door's edge; its stability is comforting. "I will not let you use me."

"Use?" The amusement in the old man's voice is so thick that it nearly smothers his words. "What use is a blind Hyuuga to anyone?"

Neji's jaw clenches and he feels the cords in his neck tighten in response.

"The one I have a use for is Hyuuga Neji," Hiroki says, and although the mirth has faded mostly, Neji can still hear the traces of it in the Elder's voice. "You may not be able to see the picture the puzzle forms, boy, but you can still feel the shapes and put it together."

Hiroki's footsteps are slow and even as he leaves Neji behind. Neji steps into his room and slides the door shut behind him. Carefully, Neji bends down to place his sandals next to the door, up against the wall. It will be easy to relocate them if they are there.

The room is easy for him to navigate—it always has been. Neji knows without needing to see that directly in front of him is a clear path to his futon, which is right against the far wall. Against the right wall is a long, low bookcase with three shelves, filled with various books and scrolls. Directly opposite that is Neji's closet, and between that and the center of the room is a small table.

There is a mirror on the wall by the closet and a window opposite the door, but Neji has no use for them now.

He walks slowly, drifting to the left. Five steps and his right foot finds the thin sitting cushion. Neji lowers himself onto the cushion and rests his hands on the smooth surface of the table.

He needs to think. He_has_ to think. What is Hiroki trying to do?

Neji finds that his right hand is slowly tracing nonsensical patterns on the cold table-top. He frowns and curls the offending fingers into a fist. It is a habit from childhood; he used to skim his fingers along the wall when he couldn't sleep. First manifesting itself after Hizashi died, it is something Neji hasn't done for years.

He remains in his room, alone, the gong in the courtyard between the Main and Branch Houses ringing out the hours. Neji can hear and sense other members of the Branch pass by his room, but no one pauses and asks to enter. It is a deliberate shunning by the Branch—that in the clan that can see everything, they do not see him. Any injured Branch member, upon returning, is always greeted by at least one relative, to see if the injured person requires assistance.

He senses another chakra signature approach his door and continue on without hesitation.

There is no point in dwelling on it further. His current status is somewhere between the two families and death.

So Neji turns his thoughts to Hiroki. A Hyuuga Elder, and one he knows almost nothing about. They are indirectly related and speak to one another only on rare occasions. Neji breathes slowly and regularly as he would if meditating, trying to recall everything he knows about the man.

Genealogy is the easiest to recall. Hiroki's only son married Neji's maternal aunt, a Branch House member. When their daughter was born, the Elders announced that the girl's lineage would be traced through her mother, and when she was four, she was branded with the Curse Seal, like all other children of the Branch.

Neji originally had his lineage declared through his mother, a Main House member. Only when Hinata turned three was Neji given the Curse Seal. His lineage remained maternal, allowing him to fulfill the requirement that the Heir's protector be less than a generation removed from the Main Family.

Neji's deceased mother and Hiroki's daughter-in-law were sisters, but the Hyuuga have long maintained the tradition of splitting siblings apart. Frankly, it is little short of a miracle that neither Hinata nor Hanabi were threatened with the being sent to the Branch before now.

Neji frowns. The ball of his thumb runs over the edge of the table as he thinks. Why did Hiroki walk in the wrong direction heading home? At best it delayed their arrival by a quarter of an hour. Was it some sort of test? If it was, what did the Elder gain from it? Or was it only to highlight what he told Neji?

He sits at the table for the next two hours, mentally reconstructing his interaction with Hiroki as faithfully as he can. Somewhere in there are the pieces Neji needs. 

* * *

Shortly after the courtyard gong declares the thirteenth hour, two sets of footsteps stop in front of Neji's door. "Come in," he says, and the door slides open.

"Oi, Neji," one of the people calls while stepping into the room, an amiable bark echoing the greeting.

Neji's eyebrows furrow together. "Kiba." Although he is on fairly good terms with the Inuzuka, Kiba has never come to visit Neji. The Inuzuka always goes to the Head Family's living areas to meet with Hinata, his teammate.

The door slides shut behind the second set of footsteps. "Neji."

"Shino," Neji acknowledges, and his sense of uneasiness increases, twisting about the tiniest thread of what could become anger. If the two chuunin are here to express some misguided form of pity, he will show them just how _useless_ he is. And if Hinata told them to come—

"Sit," Neji says, and his voice is just a little short of giving an outright command. Neji can feel the three chakra signatures—two human and one nin-dog—as they cross to the opposite side of the table he is still sitting at. He hears them settle on the floor, the wood creaking nearly inaudibly at the new weight. There is a rustle of clothes, and then several tiny clicks, which Neji surmises are Akamaru being placed on the table. He wonders if the dog's nails are ever trimmed and how much damage they will do to the wood surface.

Kiba is the first to speak. "Hinata told us what's gonna happen to you and to her." His voice is quiet and angry. Akamaru growls a little at that. "We're not gonna let her get marked."

Neji feels his beast twitching again. "How?" The tiniest flash of hope is quickly suppressed.

"The only reason you've got to die is because you're a danger to your clan, right?" The Inuzuka's voice is building in energy and pitch. "If you're not a threat—"

"The Heir still would need a protector," Neji cuts in. "Neutralizing me as a threat wouldn't change that." Anger is beginning to filter into his gut and it takes effort to keep his hands from clenching.

"We know that," Kiba said, annoyance plain in his words and tone. "So me and Shino are gonna teach you how to fight."

". . . what?' Neji freezes.

"You're a genius, right?" Kiba's voice is an odd mixture of excitement and impatience. "Seeing's not the only way to find an enemy. I can teach you how to increase your sense of smell and hearing, like my clan does."

"Aburame sight starts deteriorating in our twenties," Shino's calm voice is a marked contrast to his teammate's enthusiasm. "It is one of the side effects of the kikai."

"All you've gotta do is show those old bastards you can fight," Kiba says triumphantly. Akamaru yips in agreement. "Then you won't die and Hinata won't have to get sent to the Branch House."

"Who told you that?" Neji has found his words again and the monster is moving once again, working its way through his abdomen. Neji knows his clan history better than the two chuunin. There was _never_ an exception to this law, not even when Hyuuga Hiroshi, the Heir over half a century ago, was blinded on a mission. Hiroshi lost sight in one eye and almost all of it in another. The clan had required him to breed, and when conception was confirmed, Hiroshi slit his own throat.

"One of your Elders," Shino answers. "Hiroki-san implied that this would work."

Neji's hands are squeezing the edges of his table, His thoughts are spinning furiously, trying to assimilate the new information. What does Hiroki stand to gain by misleading Hinata's teammates? If the Elders then wouldn't make an exception for the Heir, there is no way the Elders now would make an exception for someone they particularly despise.

And then . . . the pieces start taking on defined shapes.

"Have you told Hinata-sama about this?" Neji asks slowly.

"No," Shino says. "We came to you first."

"She's been with her dad all morning," Kiba complains. "So we thought we'd tell you."

Neji takes a deep breath and forces his fingers to relax and drop into his lap. "Don't tell her." _She'll know it's not possible_. He needs more time to think and make sure Hiroki's plan is what he thinks it is. The shapes of the pieces are more distinct now, and they're coming into place. Just a little more time . . . Neji's own plan is forming in his mind.

"Why not?" Kiba's voice is puzzled.

"They'll be watching her more closely now." Neji forces the beast inside him to stay still and for his voice to remain calm. "Most of the Elders want her sent to the Branch House, and if they know she is trying to prevent that, they will have her marked immediately. In order for this to work, we must keep it secret from her."

_It will come down to the pieces_, he thinks as he talks further with Hinata's teammates. He must fit them together and use the Elder's puzzle for Neji's own ends. And if Neji's use of the pieces accomplishes Hiroki's part of the puzzle, so be it. Neji has a goal of his own—one where he has use for a blind Hyuuga and inflexible tradition.

* * *

To Be Continued

in

Chapter Four: Intuition


	4. Intuition

Disclaimer: The only things that belong to me are the plot, the original characters, and this particular representation of the Hyuuga and their politics.

Author's Notes: Much love to Kilerkki for beta-ing and to all those who have given feedback or reviews or have just put up with me and the five months it took to get this chapter out.

The first three chapters have been edited—"Head Family" has been changed to "Main Family" because of a change in my personal preference and for clarity in some areas. 

* * *

Oracle

Chapter Four: Intuition

Neji knows how many buildings are in the Hyuuga compound. He knows the locations and positions of the gates (the Main Family's gate faces to the east, the Branch's to the south), where the gardens are, the clearings for training, the gong, the grave markers, the Ceremony Building (where the Elders meet and where the Hokage is always entertained). But knowing the layout and being able to navigate these grounds without sight are two different things entirely.

He rises when his alarm proclaims the fourth hour of his twenty-seventh day. Neji goes toward his dresser, hands outstretched and searching. His right hand finds it first, and he frowns slightly. He drifted left in the few seconds it had taken him to move. Getting to one of the side gates might prove more difficult than he expected.

Neji feels down the wood furniture, counting the drawers until he finds the ones he needs. He pulls out some clothing, running his hands along the fabric to determine its type. The searching is done meticulously until he is finally able to locate the proper garments. He pays only a passing thought to what colors the clothes are, knowing that it's impossible for him to divine shades by touch. His training clothes are always some variant of white, and if they do not match precisely, he does not care.

After shutting the drawers, Neji changes clothing swiftly, wrapping the bandages over his seal last. He carefully moves in the direction of his door, holding his right hand before him to find his destination. It takes eleven steps from his dresser until his palm runs into the sliding door.

Neji feels left across the door until his fingertips detect the wall. He reaches straight down and finds his carefully placed sandals, picking them up with his left hand. He pauses there, in a crouch, trying to sense if there is anyone in the hallway. What chakra signatures he can feel are stationery or are moving far enough away that they are of no concern to him.

He stands up and uses his free right hand to slide his door open. Wood scrapes softly against wood, and Neji slips out between the panels of wall and door, shutting the door behind him. He turns to the right and begins to move down the hall, right hand skimming across doors and walls. His steps are slow and quiet, and he counts each one, memorizing how long the corridors are and how many doors there are. He refuses to cling to the walls of the Branch for longer than he needs to.

Neji feels the flooring change from wood to tile beneath his bare feet, so he shifts his hand away from the wall, stepping forward carefully until half of a foot is hanging over the edge of the step down to the entrance way. He fixes the number of steps it took to get here in his mind and steps down and forward.

A few seconds later and he is outside, door shut behind him. Neji pauses there, breathing in the thick, moist air. Fog perhaps, judging from how the cold and the damp flood his lungs with every breath. It's not rain, because the flagstones surrounding the area around the door are more chilled than wet. He listens to the pre-dawn stillness, but he cannot hear or sense anyone nearby.

He must get to the Branch Gates before the majority of the clan is awake. Neji knows that from where he is, the gates are to the southeast. There is a path which leads directly there from this side door, paved with smooth stones in shades of gray; he knows that a similar path from the main gate to the Main Family's living area is paved in white.

Neji keeps his sandals in his hand and steps in the direction the path should be. The flagstones are cold, their uniform height unnaturally smooth under his feet. But after a half-dozen steps his feet strike grass, damp from fog or dew, instead of pebbled river stone. He pauses there, feeling his insides begin to twist. Once again, he drifted.

He remains motionless for a handful of seconds, save for his breathing, thinking. Then he pivots to the right, planting his left food on the grass and setting the other on the flagstones. Neji slides his feet over the two surfaces, knowing that the path is nearby. A few shuffled steps and his left toes painfully strike rock. These stones are smooth but unevenly shaped and vary in height.

Neji relaxes slightly and follows the path laid before him. The going is slow and he often finds himself stepping into the wet grass, but he makes his way to the Branch Gate unmolested. Whether or not he will have the same luck on the way back is something Neji decides can be worried about then.

He hears a soft bark coming from up ahead. A heartbeat later and a voice calls quietly, "Neji?"

"It's me." Pausing for a moment, he puts his sandals back on and holds his hands out in front of him and then moves quickly toward Kiba's voice. Walking face-first into the gate is not something Neji particularly wants to do. "Is Shino here?"

"Yes."

Neji opens his mouth to say something but snaps it shut instead when he jams the fingers of his right hand against the wood of the gate. After a second of recovery and a cynical mental comment about how at least he found the gate with his hand instead of his head, Neji slides his fingers over the weather-worn surface and finds the latch.

He steps outside of the compound on his own and then carefully shuts the gate behind him. "Let's go."

* * *

"So your knee's all right?" Kiba asks, and Neji can tell from how the voice sounds that the other boy has given up on trying to face him while talking. Neji can hear the words in either case, which is the important thing. It had been necessary for him to keep a hold of the chuunin's shoulder for the entirety of the trip or risk tripping over something or drifting off course. Efficiency was more important than his pride.

"It is functioning well," he answers honestly. Yesterday there was some pain, but the walk this morning proved that the med-nin of Konohagakure knew what they were doing. "Why?" The lack of a limp should be obvious.

"Nee-chan was worried you might not be able to walk again," Kiba says, his tone uncharacteristically somber. "She said—"

"I'm fine," Neji says quietly. He doesn't remember Inuzuka Hana's assistance, but he remembers what Tenten told him about how the veterinarian had worked on repairing his knee, even though her experience with human injuries was limited. "Her efforts stabilized my knee, and Hokage-sama was able to heal it."

"We're here." Shino's voice is decidedly neutral. Neji lets go of Kiba's shoulder, dropping his hand back down to his side.

"All right," Kiba says, his sudden enthusiasm cut short by a loud yawn. "Too early," the Inuzuka mutters before reverting to his energetic tone. "First, me an' Akamaru are gonna teach you to use your nose." Akamaru yips in agreement. "It's pretty easy," Kiba continues. "All you've gotta do is gather a bunch of chakra to your nose and breathe in. The hard part is gonna be to learn to make use of what you're smelling." There is a pause. "Go ahead and try it."

Simple. He never attempted to gather his chakra in such a way. The instructions are vague, but Neji focuses and manipulates his chakra, concentrating it to his nose, taking a breath—

_fur steel leaves mint earth oil flowers soap dirtudoncottondewsweat _

—and gasps, a sharp intake of air, letting the chakra disperse hastily. Eyes water and he pinches his nostrils shut, trying to stem the flow of mucus draining out of his nose.

Kiba swears and moves to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. Neji bristles at the unsolicited contact. "You all right?"

Neji grunts irritably. His eyes water so badly that his cheeks are damp, the closest he has come to crying in years.

"Sorry," Kiba says and lets go of his shoulder when Neji straightens. "I didn't think you'd react so badly . . ."

Before Neji can reply with something scathing, Shino moves next to him. "Here." Something soft brushes the back of his free hand. He takes it, fingers telling him that it's a wad of bandages before bringing the makeshift tissues to his nose.

It takes several minutes before Neji's nose stops running enough that they can continue. He wipes the tears off his cheeks and tucks the wad of bandages into a pocket for later disposal.

Shino waits a moment more before speaking. "Hold out your hands."

Neji pauses and then does as he is told, palms facing upward, arms parallel to the ground. He almost jerks his hands away when he feels someone else's fingertips settle gently on his palms, but he manages to keep still. Being touched unexpectedly was not something Neji liked when he could see, and now it is worse, another sign of his loss of control over his surroundings.

The Aburame is talking again, forcing Neji to pay attention. "Mold your chakra as if you were going to use the _jyuuken_," Shino says, "but keep it contained."

This, at least, is familiar. Neji gathers his chakra to his palms, hardly needing to imagine what it looks like. A faint blue fire surrounding his skin, shimmering but under his tight control, waiting to be forced into his opponents' bodies to kill them from within.

But Shino's fingers stay where they are, despite the chakra. Neji pulls his chakra back slightly, not wanting to damage the chuunin's hands.

"Don't," Shino says, his voice just shy of a command. He is silent for several seconds after Neji allows the energy to flow back normally across his palm.

"Can you feel it?"

Neji frowns, but before he can ask what it is he's supposed to feel, Shino's hands move, fingertips lifting away from his palm. But he can still _feel_ Shino's fingers. The sensation itself is an odd one, like his chakra is being compressed, transferring the sensation of touch without the actual physical contact. Odd, but not altogether unfamiliar. It reminds him of the rare times his opponents were within his _kaiten_ when he started the technique: the pressure of something there that shouldn't be, of chakra that is meant to be moving being blocked. Or like his fight against the Oto-nin, where the man's chakra-infused webs dragged Neji to a halt, preventing him from spinning.

"Hinata told me that the _jyuuken_ requires the user to shove outward with her chakra," Shino explains. Neji bites down the urge to point out that the Hyuuga fighting style is a little more complicated than that. "From what I've seen of your _kaiten_, it is the same. You shove a large amount of chakra away from you, adding the spin to aid the deflection of weapons."

The words come slowly to Neji as the idea works in his mind. "A continual projection of chakra?" It can work, he realizes, almost surprised. He knows he can contain his chakra within a certain radius. Expanding that radius and finding and maintaining the right density of chakra—too dense and it will slow him down, too light and it won't provide enough pressure for him to discern his surroundings—will be the difficult parts. If he can get the balance right, he will be able to 'feel' anything solid, any object, around him.

"I have twenty-seven days to learn," Neji says. 

* * *

The dawn light is just barely warming his exposed skin as he walks barefoot over the river stones. Their earlier chill is gone, but they are still not warm. Neji's concentration is focused on his mental path, but not so focused that he loses the sense of his surroundings completely.

Neji pauses, sandals in his hand right, as he senses the approach of another's chakra signature. He turns his head to the right to face the person attempting to be subtle and failing. The masking of the person's presence is incomplete; Neji can't identify who it belongs to, but he can detect the person just the same. "I know you're there," Neji says, and he doesn't bother keeping the edge out of his voice. He will not tolerate any attempts to make him into a fool.

"Temper, Neji-kun."

"Hiroki-sama." The younger man bows, and not only for the sake of propriety. It's time for him to find out if the puzzle he is putting together is the right one. "Would you allow me to accompany you?"

Neji can almost hear the smile in the Elder's voice. "Do you know where I'm heading?" He hears the quiet _slap-slap_ of flexible sandals as the Elder steps onto the stones with him.

"I think I do, Hiroki-sama," Neji replies. He waits for a moment, and when it becomes clear that Hiroki doesn't plan on taking his arm, Neji continues his slow progress toward the Branch House.

"And what is my destination?"

The Elder laughs when Neji tells him the right answer.

* * *

On Neji's twenty-fourth day left of life, Lee and Tenten show up at the clearing. Tenten is still on crutches, but the two of them demand the right to help out their teammate.

Neji points out that they are no longer his teammates, as his jounin commission was resigned by his clan and he is no longer a ninja for the village.

Lee points out that they are his friends and will do anything to give Neji a chance to live.

The next morning they go to a different clearing because the first one is too small to fit them all. 

* * *

Neji takes a long time preparing to meet the Elders on the evening of his twenty-first day. While he doesn't consider himself a vain person, he knows that many things depend on how this night turns out. It is equal parts his meticulousness and his difficulty in attiring himself in the ceremonial clothing that cause him to spend so long dressing.

He prepares by himself in the silence of his room; Hiroki has not spoken to him since their encounter six days ago. They could not risk it.

There is little activity in this part of the Branch House, as most of the members are eating dinner. Missing the meal does not bother Neji because gives him the opportunity to exit his room without running into anyone. He makes his way, undisturbed, to the building where the Elders and the Head hold their councils.

Neji wears his sandals. Appearances matter with these formal occasions, and arriving with dirty feet will lessen his already low chances. He spent the last six days memorizing this path enough to be able to walk it without hesitation.

The night wind is warm against his face, a residue of the sun's heat preventing it from cooling this early. In two months the nights in Hi no Kuni will be warm enough that residents will sleep with every window open in the hopes of catching a whisper of a breeze. Neji decides it is for the best that he never liked the oppressive heat of summer in the first place.

The silent lie causes the monster in his abdomen to stir again. Neji focuses what concentration he can spare to rein the beast in and hold it fast. He can't afford to let the feeling take him over, not now, not tonight.

By the time Neji reaches the meeting place, he is in control of himself and waits patiently outside the door. On the other side is a small rustle of old voices, the words indistinct for the most part. He doesn't try to catch the words any more than he tries to catch the murmurs of the wind, knowing they will call him in when they are ready for him.

It doesn't take long for the voices to settle into place. He reminds himself not to tense at the silence.

A few heartbeats later and the familiar sound of a door sliding open greets his ears. Neji walks through the new gap, the door sliding back into place the instant he is out of the threshold.

Five steps forward, and then Neji carefully kneels on the floor before the Elders and Head of his clan.

It is time for the pieces of the puzzle to fall together or to fall apart. 

* * *

To Be Continued

in

Chapter Five: Fulcrum


	5. Fulcrum

Disclaimer: The only things that belong to me are the plot, the original characters, and this particular representation of the Hyuuga and their politics.

Author's Notes: This took a long time to write. Various reasons. If you want in-detail thoughts about this chapter, please see my livejournal (link in profile), entry #393.

As always, much love and gratitude to my beta, Kilerkki, who is awesome and very patient with me. Thanks also to link no miko and iamzuul for their constant enthusiasm. And, of course, thank you to the readers, who have given me inspiration and made me smile many times.

* * *

Oracle

Chapter Five: Fulcrum

Neji bows, pressing his hands to the floor, forehead nearly touching the ground. He must show humility, must _be_ humility, must make up for a decade of haughtiness and pride and scorn for the Main Family within these next minutes or it is all lost.

There are six other people in the room. Only two chakra signatures are familiar: one is the tight but fading strength of Hiroki, the second is the familiar power of his uncle. The other four are unknown, although he knows at least one of them—the one behind him—is no one important. Most likely it is a lower member of the Main Family, here to attend to the Elders at the meeting or to open and close doors. The Elders rotate nightly to serve on Hiashi's council, and beyond Hiroki, Neji does not know which Elders are serving tonight.

He can feel a seam beneath his hands where two tatami mats intersect. It is a subtle sensation, the smallest of cracks between one piece of flooring and the other. But it is there, another testament of his increasing dependency on touch. Part of him wonders just how much of the texture of the world he missed before, as focused as he was on sight.

Hiashi's chakra is directly in front of him, which puts the Clan Head in the center of the arc of what has to be Elders. The furthest right is Hiroki, but the one in between and the two on the left are absolutely foreign. Neji has no doubt that if he saw them, he could identify the others. He will have to settle for not knowing.

His uncle allows several seconds to pass by, but Neji doubts it is to savor this moment of submission. He knows his uncle is not as petty a man as he once thought. The Elders are another matter entirely, and this moment is for them. Most of them, at least.

"We recognize your presence, Neji," Hiashi begins before the silence can stretch too thin.

Neji straightens from his bow, but stays kneeling. It is his turn to speak now, his only chance to make anything worthwhile from his blindness.

"I have considered my fate." Neji practiced this voice. It is not his customary confidence. It is humble, but it is not weak. "And I ask for just two things." He refuses to lets his hands grip the fabric over his knees. "I ask that I be allowed to reclaim my honor and bargain with you."

The silence is long enough for Neji to breathe in once. It is long enough for the Elders to exchange any number of glances and soundless signals.

"What honor?" This voice is breathy, wheezing faintly from illness or the failing lungs of age. It comes from the chakra to the left of Hiashi. "None of the Cloud-nin that assaulted your team are at large. They are either dead or captured. Your honor has already been reclaimed."

Neji keeps his shoulders from tensing. "One of those captured was the one who blinded me. She did it while I was drugged." He remembers the pain, the fire flashing through his skull, the lightning flooding down his spine. He remembers screaming even though he had no breath to give it voice.

"You wish to kill her then?" A new voice, a sharp voice, but grating like broken pottery. "Or simply put out her eyes?" This voice is between Hiroki and Hiashi and is laced with scorn.

Neji does not remember taking breath, but he has breath enough to speak. "I ask that I be allowed to fight her. If I lose, I will die in battle. If I win, I will have my honor again before I die."

"Hokage-sama has not turned the Cloud-nin over to us." It is a woman's voice, unexpected and on the far left. "We don't know if we'll even obtain custody before your appointed day."

"If you're trying to buy yourself more time," Sharp's voice breaks in, "this is a poor attempt. You are living on bargained time, and it is an honor beyond your station. You should have been dead already."

The beast, ever-coiled in his stomach, stirs. Neji does his best to keep his voice meek. "I ask for no extra time. All I ask is to bargain on the outcome of the fight."

"We will not overrule Hinata-sama's bargain," Woman says. "You cannot have her reinstated."

"There is nothing I could do to repay the days I have been given." Nothing he can do to change Hinata's choice, her damning choice, her unwitting forsaking of his hope. She gave him time to—what?

_I couldn't just let you die_.

But she will. Her bargain did not buy his life; it bought him only time. What does she expect him to do with this month? Just one month in exchange for her future. An absurd bargain even from her perspective, Neji realizes. How can his single month be worth more than all her future years and the potential to change this clan?

It is something to ask her at a later time, when he is not gambling with his death. "If I win the match, I ask that Hotaru, daughter of Horyuu, have her lineage traced through her father—"

"—Hideaki, son of Hiroki." Sharp's voice is razor wire, invisible and deadly. "Do you really think to manipulate us so easily?"

Neji barely has time to contemplate tensing before Hiroki speaks. "It's the better choice."

"One which would transfer control of the Branch to your line instead of Hiashi-sama's."

The conversation shifts away from him, and Neji cannot help but feel relief from the ease of pressure. Relief, and shame that he needs the release, finds a strange comfort in the Elders ignoring him. As far as he knows, he is no longer the center of their attention, no longer the object of eyes he cannot see.

"Besides," Woman says, "the girl is young and not especially talented. There is no reason she should be favored over other, more qualified candidates."

"Like your great nephew?" Hiroki's voice is amused. "Still chuunin at twenty and still far from advancing."

The debate is close to erupting when Hiashi speaks. "Why Hotaru?"

Despite the simplicity of the question, Neji can feel the weight Hiashi gave the words. He knows that his answer will sway his uncle.

"She is between Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama in age," Neji begins. He can feel the Elders' eyes again, judging, searching for something to tear him apart with. "She would serve either well, no matter who was chosen as Heir." The beast moves again, snaking tendrils around his insides. "There are many advantages to having the Heir's protector be the same sex as the Heir."

Neji refuses to soften his next words, despite the meekness of his affected voice. "And although she is not the best among the Branch, Hotaru-san would still surpass Hinata-sama as a protector for Hanabi-sama."

It is an unkind assessment of Hinata's skill. In time, Hinata could prove a competent protector, but he does not have the time to find out.

The silence lingers and Neji finds that the first finger of his right hand is beginning to trace tiny circles against his knee. He forces himself to still.

"My problem is not what you're bargaining for." The wheezing voice is speaking for a second time. "It's that we have no incentive for agreeing." There is a rustle of fabric and a faint creaking as weight is shifted. "If all goes well for you, Neji-kun, you will have reclaimed your honor and determined your replacement. If you lose your match, you will still have your honor . . . but we will have nothing."

Neji keeps his shoulders from tensing. "I was told that any manner of death I requested would be approved."

"Provided it was within reason." There is no satisfaction or gloating in the whistling breath. "And expecting anyone to agree to a wager without the chance of winning something is not reasonable."

Not all of the Elders think the prospect of Neji potentially humiliating himself in his last moments is enough of an incentive. "What is it that you would like to win?"

"Are you seriously considering bargaining with him?" Sharp asks with a now-familiar mixture of condescension and anger. "There is no possible way he could fight. We would gain nothing, and he would make this clan look weak."

"Not unless it was a guarantee." When no one interrupts, the Elder continues. "I, for one, would personally consider the continuation of Neji's bloodline worth the price of his honor and the chance of Hiroki's granddaughter leading the Branch family."

The beast tries to strangle Neji's breath.

"Even if we could decide on a woman to bear his child tonight," the female voice says, "he has only twenty days left, beginning tomorrow. That's hardly enough time to ensure conception."

Hiroki speaks. "We could extend—"

"There's no need for extensions." Despite its pleasantry, the breathy voice is firm. "Godaime-sama and the hospital staff are fully capable of collecting . . . genetic samples and giving them to females we select. Shall we vote?"

There is a pause—Neji guesses that some sort of signal passed among them—and Hiroki is the first to speak. "I think this is a fair bargain and a suitable manner of death."

"I don't," Sharp says. "This is nothing but a blatant attempt at manipulation, and I am not blind enough to fall for it."

Neji doesn't let his body react to the insult, although the beast roars inside, threatening to tear him apart. But he must be passive, must be silent, must quietly ignore the mocking of his death. He lived knowing he could die for a greater cause, and despite the inevitability in this case, it is no different.

He hears a whisper of fabric behind him, but the movement of an attendant is of no consequence when his fate is being decided.

"I would vote for almost anything to have this bloodline continue."

"And I think you've placed too much faith in his genetics," says Woman. "There's no way to tell how much of it was his ancestry and how much was his personality."

It is a valid point, Neji realizes as the vote ties and his fragile hope sways. How much of his talent surfaced because of his hatred of the Main Family? How much of his strength came from his desire to surpass them all? Under other circumstances, could he be content with what Fate handed him, yet another Branch Hyuuga?

"Are you being manipulated, Neji?" Hiashi, again, as solemn as he was before.

There is no hesitation. "No, Hiashi-sama." He chose his fate: the chance to change the Hyuuga.

"Then I accept your bargain, provided we can gain custody of the Cloud-nin in time."

Neji bows, pressing his forehead to the ground, pushing away all his feelings but the budding of hope. "Thank you." The sincerest gratitude he ever expressed.

Hiashi dismisses him, and Neji rises to his feet. He hears the door open, the rubbing of wood against wood, and exits the room.

The door closes shut behind him. Immediately after, there is an explosion of murmuring. The last thing he hears is Sharp's voice rising above the others as Neji strides out into the cooling night. 

* * *

He isn't certain what time he wakes, other than it is early—earlier than usual. Neji remains still on his futon, listening. There are no noises outside his window, and he cannot sense foreign chakra in his room. He dismisses the thought of a dream—all his dreams are ones he could not forget—and expands his senses, searching for anything that will explain the sudden awakening.

There are four chakra signatures within ten meters: three stationary, one mobile. The mobile one is to his left, outside the walls of the Branch quarters. Most likely someone on patrol. Two of the stationary chakra are muted and where they always are when his neighbors sleep.

The other chakra is outside his room, to his right and in the hallway. It is right in front of his door, sitting against it undoubtedly, and it is familiar.

Neji soundlessly leaves his futon and crosses to the door. He doesn't open it, but when he speaks he hears a faint gasp, the startled intake of breath. "You should be sleeping, Hinata-sama." Part of him did not expect her to; he knows she found out about what happened.

"I-I know. I'm sorry." She can move without much noise; he knows it is only because of his newly-acquired dependence on hearing that he catches the sound she makes as she stands and faces his door. "But I . . . I wanted to make sure I c-could talk to you. I've tried be-before, and . . ."

He was either out with her teammates before their meeting, or else he was with his, training. "Would you like to come in?" Better to deal with this now than to tell her to wait and have her possibly follow him to his meeting with Kiba and Shino.

"Please."

Neji opens the door and steps backwards, out of her way. He frowns a little when he senses her chakra come only a few centimeters in, barely far enough to close the door behind her. "What is it that you wish to talk about?" Moving to his table, he sits down on one of the cushions and is grateful when she follows his lead.

She is silent for a while, and Neji imagines her fidgeting although she makes no noise. He wonders how long she was outside his door and what time it is. The person on patrol wanders by again, closer than before. Neither of his neighbors are awake yet, or if they are, they're good enough shinobi to pretend they aren't.

"Why?"

It is a question he wants to ask her, but she asked it first. A single word with an answer that is more complicated than he knows how to fully express, but he tries. "I know you can change this clan, Hinata-sama." He pauses and then, for the first time, voices the words he kept to himself. "And I will do anything to ensure that the Branch has no reason to breed another person as I used to be."

A person with talent and motivation, yes. But a person overflowing with condescension and rage and bitterness and despair and hatred, every millimeter as arrogant and fate-bound as the worst of the Main Family. He sees himself a little clearer now, ever since his world began to change in the aftermath of his first Chuunin Exam. He can predict how that Neji would end, and the thought that he nearly became that way fills him with disgust and a hint of terror.

That is what the beast is, the thing threatening to consume him from the inside: the person he was before. The person without hope.

He falls silent; she knows almost as well as he does what he was like before.

There is a shaky breath—he has but a moment to wonder if she's crying—before he realizes that the person on patrol is pressed right against his wall.

Neji is almost to his feet when the curse seal flares.

He screams, hands reaching up to claw at the flames searing his eyes and charring his mind. He pitches to the side, but the pain of him landing on the table and falling to the floor does nothing to detract from the exquisite agony.

There is a roaring in his ears and he thinks he hears Hinata, but he's jerking wildly, his bones are on fire and he chokes on his screams and there's lightning in his blood and it won't stop it can't stop please just make it sto— 

* * *

To Be Continued

in

Chapter Six: Regression


	6. Regression

Disclaimer: The only things that belong to me are the plot, the original characters, and this particular representation of the Hyuuga and their politics.

Author's Notes: Thank you so much to Kilerkki, for being my wonderful beta (she's very good at catching some seriously embarrassing mistakes). I must also thank Asuka Kureru, who challenged me to write a line a day of this (and is thus instrumental in how quickly this came out); link no miko and iamzuul for their enthusiasm; and all of you who have reviewed—your input is crucial when it comes to my motivation. 

* * *

Oracle

Chapter Six: Regression

_. . . and oil and sweat and fur and dirt and _grassbloodpaintearscottonperfumesteel_ floods his nostrils, an agony of scent that he is slowly controlling and still trying to make sense of. A desperate attempt to help him not be slaughtered in a fight . . ._

_. . . and Hiashi speaks the condemning words a second time: "There are no blind Hyuuga." His hand, rough and worn by age and the _jyuuken_, picks up Neji's own limp hand. Hiashi will end this quickly, and Neji thinks he should thank his uncle for that mercy . . ._

_. . . and he steps out carefully, bare feet feeling the smooth river stones that mark his path. They are cool, but it wasn't cold enough for dew to form during the night. Neji knows that summer is coming to Fire Country, but he ignores the voice that says he will not be there to enjoy it . . ._

_. . . and Tenten calls out, telling him to try again. Neji fights away the doubt and fear and focuses his chakra again. He needs to expand, go further out, find the right density, enough to give him the form of the world but not enough to slow him down . . ._

_. . . and the Elders argue, their voices slowly gaining pitch and intensity with every word. They will determine his fate, and these expired relics hold no love for him and no sense of the future. Neji breathes in slowly . . ._

_. . . and then he reaches up, frantic, pressing his fingers to where his eyes should be. It sends pain flashing through the seal, but with it comes relief—his eyes are still there, still his, she didn't pull them from their sockets and leave him blind in a vibrant world . . ._

* * *

He recognizes the pain first, sinuous and irregular, swirling through his mind and snaking around his spine. It is his only companion for an eternity, and he feels its tides, rising until it's almost sharp enough to pierce through what is left of him, falling until he's almost certain it will bury him beyond any reach.

He rises and falls and rises and falls and dreams his dreams in sound and touch and smell and darkness. 

* * *

When he wakes this time, Neji doesn't open his eyes. The pain is still there—why does it ache so much?—and if he opens his eyes, the slightest current of air will shred his very nerves. It wasn't like this the last time he woke, and the part of him that is just beginning to think clearly past the haze in his mind knows that this agony is unnatural.

Last time, Neji's eyes were nearly torn from their sockets and the curse seal had thought him dead. Yet when he woke, the only pain came from the injury to his leg and when he put pressure on his eyes. Simply . . . existing should not do this.

His neck feels stiff. Neji shifts a little—perhaps the too-soft pillow is causing the problem—but he barely has time to register the papery sound the sheets make when someone speaks.

"Neji."

The voice is deep and familiar and the closest thing he has had to a father in many years.

"Gai-sensei." His own voice is raspy from screaming, he hopes, not from disuse—how long, how many days does he have left? How many days were robbed?

There is a faint sound of metal on tile, and Neji feels his sensei's presence draw closer. He has been in the hospital long enough that someone brought a chair or a stool. Fear starts squirming in his chest, and Neji tells himself to breathe.

He turns his head left, toward Gai—for a dangerous moment he can feel the seal flicker—ignoring his stiff and painful neck. Gai insisted on eye-contact from him before Neji made chuunin. Even now, Neji can't help but face his sensei.

He tries to open his eyes, but can't.

Before Neji can frantically reach up to his face, Gai stops him with the ease of veteran jounin, grasping Neji's wrist before his fingers can reach his face. "Hokage-sama bandaged your eyes," he says quietly. His sensei's hand is large—so large it easily encircles his wrist. Neji fights his panic and quells the urge to jerk his hand away. He concentrates instead on Gai's hand, how strong and rough it is, how warm it feels, how . . . safe.

"She told me not to let you take them off," Gai continues, and his voice sounds apologetic. "She told me she would do it when you woke up."

Neji focuses on the hand and the voice, and the more he regains control of himself, the more he can focus on what his body is telling him. He can smell the odors of a hospital room: bleach-scrubbed cleanliness, newly laundered sheets. (If he uses chakra, could he smell the far away blood and terror and death?) There might be a hint of something floral beneath those scents, but he can't be sure. He can feel Gai gently gripping his left hand. Flexing his right hand, Neji can feel the sharp pressure of a needle beneath the skin and the almost-there presence of a small tube taped in place on top of his wrist.

There is a blanket over him. He shifts and focuses this time on the feeling of his cheap hospital gown. The sheets rustle, the unique sound of cloth-and-paper. He can't hear anything else, but he can feel a—a constriction, a tightening around his upper arm. He frowns and is surprised at the faint pulling at his temples. "I won't remove the bandages," Neji says, his voice sounding scratchy, and he swallows, trying to get rid of the prickling at the back of his throat.

Gai releases Neji's hand. There is a soft beep, and Gai's voice murmurs to someone that Neji has woken up; a static-filled voice on the other end of the intercom acknowledges the words. Whoever Gai is reporting to doesn't matter, not at this moment.

Neji moves carefully, his left hand just skirting over his forehead, causing just the slightest increase in pressure and pain. There are bandages there, and he is grateful for them. He glides his fingertips down his face and is not surprised to feel the bandages extend across his eyes and nose, down to the top of his cheekbones. What he is surprised at is the uneven rippling—there is something beneath the bandages starting at the edge of his eye sockets, but his Byakugan isn't engaged, it doesn't feel like his chakra veins usually do, and he can't feel his fingers like he felt them on his forehead.

Although this exploration would be easier with both hands, Neji keeps the one with the IV still. He traces the distortion from his eye socket toward his left temple—but this time there is a very distinct, very symmetrical bump. He can't find its texture, only its shape, a small mound with a thin wire trailing away from the center. A quick feel of his right temple finds the same: sensors for some sort of machine. If he focuses, he can hear the faint humming of a fan. Perhaps the not-veins are part of the machine?

His fingers examine the band that is squeezing the upper part of his right arm. It is about as wide as his hand is, a handful of millimeters thick, too stiff to be cotton or linen, too slick to be canvas. There are no bumps in this one, but there is a wide wire or tube trailing away. He follows it until it crosses over the smooth metal bar that is designed to keep him from rolling out of bed. How anyone thinks he has enough energy to do that is beyond him.

When Neji is done exploring what he can of his surroundings, he swallows, wanting to make his voice sound normal again. "How long have I been here?"

"Two days," Gai says, and before Neji can ask, "It's just before dawn."

He struggles against the pain behind his eyes and counts. He met with the Elders on his twenty-first night, and Hinata woke him late that night or in the first hours of the next morning. If he was here for two days, and it's nearly dawn . . .

This is the morning of his eighteenth day.

Time is slipping away from him uncontrollably, taking hours, minutes, seconds that he cannot afford to spend. His life is trickling through his fingers and dribbling away without his consent.

Neji breathes slowly. The tightness in his chest and the twisting in his gut will not reverse the flow of time. "How much do you know?"

He didn't think he would ever hear his sensei's voice sound so . . . Neji is unsure what to name it, but it is somewhere in the realm between _gentle_ and _grieved_. "Lee and Tenten told me what happened, and I read the reports," Gai says, and Neji finds that not needing to explain that again lifts one of his burdens. But only momentarily. "Hinata-san brought the flowers and a change of clothes, and she told me the rest."

Even though Neji feels his sensei lean closer, the man's voice becomes quieter. "When were you planning on telling them?"

Neji's left hand fists in his sheets. At least Gai asked _when_, not _if_—his sensei still has faith in him, the person that he is now. Neji will never tell him that on those nights he was alone with his fears and his past that his answer was dangerously close to _never_. "The next morning." His voice still sounds scratchy and he swallows again, trying to restore normalcy. "After I knew for certain what to say."

He knows his teammates won't take the truth well, though the selfish part of him wants them to forgive him for the deception.

Gai does not speak, and for once the silence unnerves Neji. He cannot see his sensei's reaction to his words, and at this moment there is little that is more important than what the man thinks. Neji listens hard, filtering out the white noise and his pain to try to gain some clue, something that will let him know what to do or say. He strains to hear Gai's breathing but cannot find it over the fan.

"Neji . . ." This time he can name the emotions in Gai's voice, and anguish is the one that overpowers the others. "I should have—"

"Stop," he says, and he makes his voice as firm as he can. It shouldn't surprise him that Gai does stop speaking, but it is a relief. "I need your help, sensei, not this."

Metal scratches over tile again as the older jounin shifts his seat. "What do you need?"

"Training," Neji answers, grateful for Gai's automatic shift in topic. "Hinata-sama told you what I have to do."

There is a sudden knock at the door, but before Neji can speak, he hears the soft click of a knob turning and the tapping of high-heeled shoes.

Gai's chair scrapes again. "Godaime-sama."

Neji echoes the greeting, but the sudden increase in the pain behind his seal forces him to realize he's tensed already, bracing himself for worse news. He allows himself to relax as the Hokage's shoes come closer.

"How are you feeling, Neji?" Her voice is a little muffled and coming from an odd angle—she is probably investigating whatever equipment has the fan in it, he thinks.

He tells the truth because he knows doing anything less could cost him more than just these two days. "The seal and my eyes hurt." His voice is returning to some semblance of normalcy. "So does my neck." The pain goes down into his shoulders and back, but his neck is the worst.

Tsunade's voice swings toward him. "I'm going to help you sit up so I can check on your eyes." There are suddenly fingertips on his left arm, and though she gave him a warning, his muscles still jump.

Neji sits up with his Hokage's assistance, and though he doesn't admit it, he is grateful for her help. The sudden change in position leaves his head spinning and the seal writhing above and behind his eyes. He clenches his jaw, breathes slowly in and out of his nose, and refuses to get sick.

Her fingers are gentle when she starts to unwind the bandages. "The seal destabilized again." Her voice is methodical, and Neji hangs onto her words to keep from freefalling. The pain lessens as she works the bandages off. "We kept it from causing brain-damage, but it attacked the chakra pathways around your eyes."

The bandages are off, along with the wire and what it is attached to. Neji reaches up with his left hand and, when the Hokage makes no move to stop him, slowly runs his fingers along his left temple. Instead of a smooth expanse of skin, Neji's fingers find thick, numb waxy cords, jumbled and knotted, spreading from the outer edge of his eye socket and disappearing into his hairline. It is almost like when he has the Byakugan in use, but these parodies are too misshapen to be his normal chakra pathways.

The damage is not as great on his right side, though the same distortion is there. His mind conjures the memory of a jounin with a half-melted face and he banishes the image almost before it can form.

"I've done what I can," Tsunade says, and Neji can tell from her voice that she wishes it weren't true. "But it is fighting what I've done to contain it."

Little surprise, considering the centuries the family has had to perfect this seal.

"If it's activated again," Tsunade continues, "there's little chance you can be brought to the hospital in time for anything to be done. As it is, you'll likely experience unprovoked flare-ups."

Neji almost doesn't hear himself murmur an acknowledgement. There is nothing he can do about a member of the Main House activating the seal—there never has been. The best that he can do, he thinks as his stomach clenches, is to stay away from the compound as much as possible.

"I'm going to touch your face," she says. He nods to give her permission and then her fingertips are roaming over his forehead. A muscle in his cheek twitches and pulls at the lifeless scars. She turns his head this way and that, tilting his head up and down, pulling his hair back out of the way, skimming her fingers over his skin.

Her fingers are at the corner of his jaw. He gets a split-second warning before her chakra bleeds out of her hands and into him.

"Relax." It is a mild rebuke, but Neji can't help but feel resentful while he obeys the order. This chakra is warm and smooth, far removed from the cold fire of the _jyuuken_. "Your muscles spent most of yesterday seized up from the seal. This should help."

True to her word, Neji feels his body soak in her chakra and flood out the tension and the pain in his jaw and neck. The Hokage is careful and thorough; her chakra sinks through his shoulders but doesn't rise above his cheekbones, staying well away from the seal on his forehead.

She pulls her hands away and her chakra fades from his system. "Better?"

He is slow in answering. The seal is still fitful and its small spikes are painful, but his body is no longer screaming at him. "Yes. Thank you." His words are sincere—in the past Neji was discharged from the hospital with more pain than he was in just moments ago and with worse injuries than strained muscles. He knows the Hokage doesn't need to attend him personally.

"I felt like being useful." There is a subtle bitterness in her voice, which Neji recognizes all too well.

Haruno's voice, overheard months ago, filters through his mind: _"Not even Shizune-senpai can wake shishou before nine, and . . ."_ For her to be here, at this time, undoubtedly the one that asked Gai to notify her when Neji woke . . .

"Would you like the bandages back on?" Tsunade asks.

The offer is tempting, to conceal the newly acquired deformities; the mere thought of being out in public, attracting stares from people he can't see, is enough to make his stomach wrench. But just as he opens his mouth, he changes his mind. "No." His voice is firm and sounds as it should. "I'm not going to hide what has happened."

He hid too much of what he did until now, he realizes, and the realization brings a deeper shame than he thought possible. He justified his actions, but that didn't change their nature: cowardly. He kept the truth from his teammates and Kiba and Shino, practiced in secluded training areas to minimize the number of people that saw him fumble and fail, isolated himself within the compound, refused to tell Hinata the gamble he was making. For all his fighting against the despair of his former self, Neji knows he gave in more often than he let himself think.

No more.

"Good." The approval is plain in the Hokage's voice. "The front desk is open at eight; you can check yourself out then." It takes just a handful of moments for her to detach the IV from Neji's hand, remove the cuff from his arm, pull the electrodes from his temples, and shut off whatever machines were using them. Without the machines' fans, the room is much quieter, so the Hokage's shoes sound even louder when Neji bows his head and murmurs his thanks and goodbye along with Gai.

Neji hears the door shut and speaks before his sensei can. "I will be gone before the official visiting hours."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

Neji is grateful Gai didn't say _take_, or _escort_, or _help_. "No." He will do it by himself if he needs to, but he doubts he will. "I need you to find Tenten, Lee, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino."

It is odd, giving orders to his sensei, when they no longer have any official ties, but Neji lost more time than he can afford already. He hears the creak of the chair when Gai stands—were the fans so loud they obscured that sound before? "Where do you want us to meet you?" 

* * *

Gai leaves a little before Neji can check himself out, telling him what floor they are on. Neji gets out of the hospital bed and locates the small table with its flower vase and neatly folded clothes. There is an arrangement of flowers this time, though he can identify only the roses by their scent.

It takes but a few moments for him to change into the clothing Hinata brought. She even included a small roll of wrappings to cover the seal. He turns it over in his hands, sliding it between his palms, feeling the faintly stringy fabric.

Neji leaves the roll on the table.

The sandals are on the floor next to the bed; he slips them on his feet. He heard the direction the Hokage and his sensei left, and he strides toward it, right hand outstretched and arm loose, so that when he makes contact with the hard object there is very little sound. He finds the seam between door and wall and lingers there a moment before sliding open the door and stepping out into the hall.

Neji breathes in slowly and on his exhale he lets his chakra seep out of his tenketsu. It ruffles his clothes, almost like a faint breeze, expanding until the chakra forms a misting, whirling bubble a little more than a meter around his body. His seal stirs, but it falls still.

He feels the floor pushing upward against the chakra and the soles of his feet, feels the way the door behind him resists the intrusion of the finest grains of energy he can manage, feels his chakra nudge a heavy cart outside his room, feels it flicker through his hair.

One meter on every side. Not nearly a large enough range for a fight. But enough to get him out of this hospital. He could expand his range, but it is more difficult to control, and right now his concern is to get out of this hospital without leaving any craters in the floor.

He can feel the floor, can feel it and the wall and any immediate obstacles—he has no need to trail his hands along walls, no need to count his steps, no need to grope tentatively in the dark, no need to ask for and receive assistance.

There is nothing wrong with his body and nothing wrong with his mind. Neji strides forward, back and shoulders straight, and refuses to dread what he cannot see. 

* * *

He has to let his chakra go in order to sign himself out—an awkward affair where the medic-nin has to guide his hand so he can sign his name in all the correct spots—so the papers don't fly everywhere. He is holding the pen out to the medic-nin to take back when he recognizes a fading chakra signature approach.

Neji lets go of the pen, turns to his left, and gives a slight bow that makes his head throb. "Hiroki-sama." He needs to remember to not tense up when that happens, or he will quickly be as he was before the Hokage's help.

The Elder's greeting is a beat long in coming. "Neji-kun. I hope you weren't planning on giving me a stroke."

Straightening from his bow, Neji murmurs, "Not you." There is no need for a question about why Neji's seal is bared for the public, but this round-about comment is irritating. The man's humor is still grating, but there is a thread of truth and unease running through it. "Would you like me to escort you back to the compound when you have finished your business here?" There is a challenge behind his words, though his tone is as humble-sounding as when he went before the Elders two nights ago.

The last time they were in this hospital, Hiroki insulted him and made a mockery of his blindness, and though Neji knows now their interaction was a test, it does not mean that he will give the Elder the opportunity to do so again.

"I would appreciate that," Hiroki says as he walks past Neji. "If you wouldn't mind waiting by the main doors?"

Neji hides his surprise—the man has genuine business here?—but he does as instructed, using his misting chakra to weave through empty waiting-room chairs. The hospital is just beginning to come to life in preparation for the visiting hours, and though he cannot see he knows he is attracting more than his fair share of stares from the staff and the people that come in. He pretends as if it is the most natural thing in the world for him to stand near the doors, forehead bare, a cloud of chakra engulfing him.

He guesses as many as twenty minutes go past before the Elder returns. His normally tightly coiled chakra is fitful, and Hiroki sweeps past Neji without a word.

Neji plunges out into the streets after him.

It isn't difficult to keep his chakra at the right level and keep track of Hiroki's chakra signature at the same time, but the bustle of the street is distracting. He can hear conversation slow and pick up as he walks by; he doesn't need to weave around people as most, if not clearing the way for Hiroki, take an extra step or three out of the range of his chakra. None of those oddities compare to the utter silence of the Hyuuga Elder and how quickly he picks his way toward the compound.

Neji gathers in his chakra, reducing the field enough that he can move in closer to Hiroki without brushing his chakra against him. There are limits to how personally insulting he is willing to be, and this display is not meant to offend an individual so much as it is a group. Hiroki makes a sharp turn, moving them off the main street, before Neji ventures to speak. "Hiroki-sama—"

The amusement is there in his voice as if it never left. "They don't think you can do it," Hiroki says, though his pace never slows down. Neji doesn't need an explanation for who _they_ is and easily matches Hiroki's strides, though he is careful to keep his chakra just a hairsbreadth behind. "Oh, someone certainly tried to curry favor by the stunt with your seal—but they all soundly denounced that, and Hiashi-sama believed them."

Neji frowns, but before he can voice his objection—anyone can lie and assuredly would under these circumstances—Hiroki continues. "Not one of the other Elders thought to ask how you would die if you won your fight, Neji-kun, and so none of them were truly entertaining the thought that you could succeed. What would be the point in risking the wrath of Hiashi-sama if there was nothing to gain from it?" He makes another turn, cutting across Neji's path, brushing his sleeve against Neji's gently swirling chakra.

"We were counting on that being why they would accept the terms," Neji says, pulling back still more, and he is surprised how quiet his voice is, a sharp contrast to the bitterness he feels and quickly shoves aside. The protests the Elders gave were aimed more at Hiroki's own maneuvering than possible outcomes of Neji's fight. There is something deeply wrong with Hiroki's behavior, and for all their scheming, Neji knows that an insult to his own character would not affect Hiroki in the slightest.

The Elder stops suddenly, and despite his quick reflexes, Neji can't help his chakra brushing against Hiroki for an instant before Neji can pull it in closer. They have covered a great deal of ground in this time and taken enough turns that he cannot sense anyone near enough to overhear them. He stays quiet, for he knows that for all the Elder's bizarre ways, the man does very little without purpose.

"The terms will mean little if there is no prize to win," Hiroki says, all trace of amusement gone now. "Hotaru's team was supposed to be in four days ago."

Hotaru. Hiroki's granddaughter. It is changing her lineage that Neji is bargaining on, so that she could take his place. The beast winds its way through his stomach.

"One of her teammates was brought into the hospital this morning. I talked to her—" Neji realizes then that Hiroki was not sent to get him this morning "—and she says their sensei was killed, and she has no idea what happened to the rest of her team." 

* * *

To Be Continued

in

Chapter Seven: Interlude


	7. Interlude

Disclaimer: The only things that belong to me are the plot, the original characters, and this particular representation of the Hyuuga and their politics.

Author's Notes: Many thanks to link no miko, Asuka Kureru, and Koorino Megumi for their constant encouragement. I must also extend gratitude to Kilerkki, my amazing beta, who reminds me when I'm being stupid. And thanks to your readers who have stuck around in the ten month gap between this and the previous chapter.

There is also a recent sidefic for Oracle, which can be found in my fanfic journal. You can find the link to the journal in my author profile.

* * *

Oracle

Chapter Seven: Interlude

They head to the Hyuuga compound largely in silence after their talk. Neji knows that no amount of preoccupation with Hiroki's missing granddaughter—Neji's cousin—will have any effect on whether she is alive or dead. All they can do is continue with their plan.

If she is dead, Neji wonders if the Elders will allow him to change his bargain and pick someone else to have his or her lineage restructured. Neji has not given any genetic samples yet—something that will not happen until his final days. After the activation of his seal two days ago, he has no desire to relinquish any incentive the Elders have to keep him alive. Hiroki may say that the other Elders do not believe that Neji can actually win this gamble and thus have no reason to see him prematurely dead, but Neji knows from his own experience that it's often emotion that drives murderous thoughts and actions, rather than logic.

"Your teammates are up ahead," Hiroki says eventually.

The sudden announcement doesn't startle him. "I know," Neji says. He can feel the jumble of chakra—can recognize Kiba's wildness, Shino's hum, Gai's steadiness, Tenten's murmur—several meters away and to his left. Judging from the direction Hiroki led him, the group must be near the trees that line the lane across from the Main gate.

Hiroki stops. Neji is getting better at pulling his chakra back in time to keep from running it into the Elder. "This is where I leave you, Neji-kun." Hiroki's voice sounds amused again. "I'll be in touch." He hums a cheerful, tuneless melody as he wanders away.

It takes just a few seconds to get to the waiting group, and when Neji is close enough he lets his cloud of chakra dissipate. Before Neji can return the chorus of greetings and answer the questions about his health, he picks out a faint voice, one that calls him _niisan_.

"Hinata-sama?" He turns his head to better catch the sound, though it proves unnecessary, as the rest of the group stops talking. _What_ _is_ _she doing here?_

"Niisan," Hinata says again, and this time when Neji focuses he can find her chakra signature, tightly controlled, so compacted that it had been submerged beneath the rest. He did not mean for her to discover this meeting, to hear him face his friends and comrades, to have her see the ruthless, desperate way he dealt with both. It should not matter any more, what she thinks of him, but to have her disappointment now . . .

"I'm here to help." Hinata is quiet, but there is no evidence in her voice of the tears Neji heard two nights ago. "If . . . if you would have me."

Neji does not hesitate, for he vowed less than an hour previous to hide no longer. He bows to her deeply. "I would be honored to have your help, Hinata-sama."

"Let's get going then," Tenten says as Neji straightens and Hinata murmurs her thanks. "We're going to need a bigger training area now that we've got Hinata-san and Gai-sensei, and if we wait much longer, they'll be taken."

"Me and Akamaru can go ahead and—"

Neji cuts in. "That won't be necessary." He realizes he is running the pads of his thumbs over his fingertips and forces himself to still. "I already have a place in mind."

"Where?"

"The compound."

Hinata breaks the moment of resulting silence. "Neji-niisan, the only place large enough for all of us is being used."

"I thought it would be." He hoped it would be—the size is not the sole attractive quality of that particular spot. He takes in a breath and lets it out slowly, trying to keep his muscles from tensing. He does not need his fitful seal to begin acting up again. "But before we go, I have something to explain to you."

"What is it, Neji?" Tenten asks, and he hears a mixture of concern and curiosity in her tone.

He will not lie. He will not hide. And though he has this resolve, it does not make these upcoming words any easier. "Elder Hiroki and I have lied to you," Neji says. His hands are loose at his sides. "I am going to die in eighteen days, no matter what is done."

One heart beat, two—

"What the hell!" Kiba nearly chokes on his own words. "What about Hinata? Is that a lie, too?" The Inuzuka's chakra flares dangerously while Akamaru whines. No one else speaks, and the weak part of Neji screams for his lost sight so he could discern Lee's and Tenten's expressions.

"No," Neji answers quietly. "We can still keep Hinata-sama from the Branch."

"How?" Shino's voice is a calm contrast to Kiba's, and that much harder to interpret. Neji has never been one to persuade, and he needs the Aburame's support. All he can offer is honesty, and that will have to be enough for Hinata's teammates.

"I bargained with the Elders." It is easier to give the facts, but Neji strains his sense for any reaction from his teammates. "If I can kill the medic that blinded me, they will promote another member of the Branch to my old position, and Hinata-sama can stay in the Main."

"And—" Tenten's voice shakes the smallest bit on that word, and she starts again. "What happens when you win?"

With that question, the tension that was building within him since he woke is banished. Tenten has the faith in him to ask the question that did not occur to the Elders. It makes his next statement that much easier—and that much more difficult—to say.

"I will commit suicide after the match."

For one fleeting moment, the silence is so daunting that Neji thinks that he hadn't managed to admit those words. He wishes for a moment that Gai could put his hand on his shoulder, a steadying, comforting gesture that Neji had at first scorned and then tolerated and then appreciated. Had he ever—

Kiba swears loudly and viciously. "That's it? You're just going to lie down and die?" Neji tries to say something more, but Kiba runs right over the words. "Don't have your damn Byakugan anymore, it's time to give up? Is that what you—"

"Kiba-kun!" Hinata's sudden interruption nearly causes Neji to jerk in surprise. He heard that tone once before, when blood leaked past her lips and she stood in the full front of his rage. But even then, she did not sound half as much in pain as she does now. "This was Neji-niisan's choice, and none of us have the right to judge him for it."

They wait in near silence—an early summer breeze rustles the leaves overhead—until Kiba speaks again. "Damn it, Neji!" But the anger is draining from Kiba's voice. "I don't—this wasn't just—" He makes a frustrated noise.

"It wasn't just about Hinata-san's place in your clan," Shino finishes in his ever-quiet voice. "We don't want you to die."

There is nothing he can say that would be an adequate reply, and there is no need to acknowledge the weak feeling that twists inside him. So Neji bows his head to his teammates—to his friends—and thanks them.

* * *

Hinata walks beside him as they lead their teammates into the compound. Neji avoided the clan's training grounds, partly out of habit, partly because he did not wish to be seen fumbling here. Hinata keeps abreast of him, just on the outskirts of his gathered chakra, and apologizes when her hand brushes the unstable edge. He finds it easier to move this way, following when she is beside him and he can feel her movements and catch her soft words about uneven ground, than when he was with Elder Hiroki.

He can feel the presence of the passing members of his clan. More than one stop to watch him pass, but none challenge them. The closer he gets to his destination, the more people stop—and the more murmur in his wake. Neji is certain the reason they do so is less the fitful cloud of energy and the mangled chakra veins and more the uncovered seal.

It still does not ease the twinges of apprehension that run through him when he senses faint bursts of chakra from the largest training area in the compound. But there are more chakra signatures in the area than just the ones practicing the _jyuuken_: watching clan members form an uneven ring around two pairs of footsteps.

Hinata and Neji's teammates stop outside the ring; Hinata guides Neji through it and onto the training grounds. When they stop, Neji is careful not to stand in front of her. He dissipates his chakra and doesn't wait to be acknowledged before he speaks. "Hiashi-sama, Hanabi-sama," he calls out, loud enough to startle a bird in a nearby tree. He hears its wings beat against the leaves and the air.

The footsteps slow, then stop. "Neji." Hiashi sounds just shy of winded—a product of hours' long training with his youngest daughter. "It is good to have you back." There is no way that the Head of Hyuuga can be blind to Neji's uncovered seal or misunderstand the insolence inherent in the interruption, but Hiashi ignores the gross breech of conduct as if it never happened. It gives Neji the confidence to continue in his gambling. Hanabi says nothing, but Neji can hear her tiny gasps for air. No matter her innate talent, she is still outclassed by her father.

"I am grateful to be alive, despite attempts to the contrary."

Murmuring passes through the ring. Neji hopes that won't be the end of their discomfort.

"As am I," Hiashi returns. Neji hears the man's louder-than-normal footsteps against the packed earth and reminds himself that it is Hiashi's version of being solicitous. But the next words Hiashi says still catch Neji by surprise. "Is there something that I can do for you? I've already banned the use of the curse seal for the duration of your time."

Neji knows Hiashi's speech is for their audience, not for him. For Hiashi, the Head of Hyuuga, to ask what _he_ could do for a _Branch_ member, not to mention banning the activation of the seal, is to acknowledge forthcoming requests as if they came from an equal. Whispers staccato around the ring of witnesses.

The message is clear: Hiashi does not approve of the attempt to kill Neji.

And the offer also allows Neji to not sound impudent by making demands. "I ask to use this area to train." He gestures back in the direction he can feel his friends in. "We require a large area, and one that we could use at any time, particularly in the morning." The time Hiashi and Hanabi always train.

"Of course." Hiashi raises his voice just slightly, not to ensure it carries—they all know it does—but to emphasize the point, as if he were speaking to rebellious children. "You may make use of this training area whenever you like. Hanabi and I will work elsewhere."

Neji bows deeply, and there is genuine gratitude in his words and voice. "Thank you, Hiashi-sama."

Whatever Hiashi does next causes Hinata to breathe in sharply, though Neji cannot see it. "You're welcome, Neji." He strains to hear any other responses, but he only hears the breeze in the leaves. "Hanabi, our session is over."

Neji feels Hiashi's presence retreat, and with him, most of the ring of watchers, many of whom seem to have recovered their voices. Hanabi, however, heads toward her sister and her cousin.

"Neesan, Neji-niisan," she says in greeting. Hinata murmurs back; Neji bows his head in acknowledgement. He can hear Gai in the background, instructing his old and new charges to get warmed up, skirting them around the little clan group and into the now vacant training grounds. "It's good to see you well."

"I'm sorry we've interrupted your training," Hinata says, and though her words are sincere, she doesn't sound as if she is begging forgiveness.

That doesn't prevent Hanabi from interpreting it that way. "I forgive you," she says, and whether the condescension in Hanabi's voice is real or imagined, Neji doesn't know, but he won't be silent.

"It was my idea, Hanabi-sama," Neji says easily, lightly, as if there is nothing less important in his world than this. "Your supporters—"

"Neji-niisan," Hanabi interrupts, "I'm not stupid." Hinata tries to speak again, no doubt to try to smooth things over, but Hanabi runs right over her as well. "Either the seal has driven you mad, or you're trying to offend as many people as you can to make your point."

"What is my point, Hanabi-sama?" Neji asks quietly. He is tensing again, and pain echoes behind the seal.

"That you will try to shape Hyuuga as you want," Hanabi says. Her voice is . . . he can't place it, but there is some emotion in there that only increases his wariness. "But that is not your place. It is either mine, or Neesan's."

"Hanabi . . ."

But Hinata doesn't finish her sentence, and Hanabi jumps in before Neji can respond. "What they did to you was wrong," she says and takes several loud steps away, undoubtedly mimicking her father's attempt at being facilitating. "They may want to be my supporters, but I will have nothing to do with those that dishonor one my father has honored." Her footsteps halt for a moment, and Hinata's breath catches again. "Have a good training session."

He waits until Hanabi's footsteps are buried beneath the sounds of his and Hinata's teammates warming up before speaking. "What did she do, Hinata-sama?"

It takes a moment for Hinata to answer. When she does, her voice is hushed—not with embarrassment or fear, but with something akin to awe. "She bowed to you, like Father did."

* * *

Only a handful of chakra signatures hover near their training session on Neji's seventeenth day. Gai is loud—far too loud for the Hyuuga compound—but Neji doesn't mind. He is here to be seen, and if it is his sensei's voice that attracts attention, then that is what will be.

Neji is still getting used to creating the right chakra density in order to be able to make sense of the world, and he cannot always keep it steady. He is about to duck underneath the kick he feels Lee aim at his shoulder, but his control slips away from him unexpectedly. Without that steady resistance of Neji's chakra to slow Lee down, not only is Neji's "sight" crippled—the world goes soft and malleable—but Lee's foot slices in too fast, much too fast for Neji to complete his dodge in time.

Neji is not sure who in his group is more horrified at the fact that he has been sent head-first into the railing around the training area, but Tenten is obviously shaken—her voice is higher than normal and her fingers flutter against his neck as she checks him over with a silent Hinata at her side—and Lee will not stop apologizing. Shino does not speak, but Neji can pick up on a sudden buzzing of tiny wings; Kiba and Gai keep asking loudly if he's all right.

"I'm fine," he says over their protests and despite the spike of pain from the fitful seal. He will have to be particularly cautious here, as he doesn't want to experience unbearable agony again. There is a moment of dizziness when Gai helps him stand, but nothing comparable to what he's experienced with the _kaiten_. "Lee, again."

Lee knows him well enough that he doesn't pull any of his strikes, and Neji just grits his teeth whenever a blow lands. For a moment he wonders if Lee ever felt like this against him—outclassed and struggling and seconds away from a rather undignified encounter with the ground—when Neji feels Lee's leg arcing toward his shoulder again.

He instead of ducking or bringing an arm up to block, he shoves outward with his chakra. It's not as powerful as what he does with the _kaiten_, but it provides enough resistance to slow Lee's foot down so that Neji can twist his body away.

Lee's foot crashes into the ground, and shattered earth pushes up against Neji's cloud of chakra as Neji changes his twist into a kick.

He's not sure where Lee lands—it's outside his two-meter range—but Lee's enthusiastic congratulations are mark enough.

* * *

His sixteenth, fifteenth, fourteenth, and thirteenth days pass by. His group attracts a larger and larger crowd of mostly silent Hyuuga—after every session, he asks Hinata who watched. She tells him that it is mostly Branch, with a handful of Main, though the latter are few and far between. Even Hiashi and Hanabi stop by, if their training ends before Neji's does. Elder Hiroki flits by on occasion, humming his tuneless song, laughing equally when Neji is humiliated and when he sends one of his teammates flying. But the Elder never stays long, nor does he ever approach Neji.

He doesn't need Hinata to tell him that there has been no word about Hotaru. Neji has set his path, and he will continue down it until he must make a change. He has spent his last several nights going through possible replacements in his mind and formulating an argument for each of them. No one has given any indication the bargain was void because what he bargained for—Hotaru, and her change of position—could be dead, and he is certain Hiashi would have notified him at least.

So Neji trains, feeling the world take shape while he learns a new way of fighting, a new way of seeing when the world is dark.

Toward the end of their session on Neji's twelfth day, Hiroki interrupts the group for the first time. Neji has trickles of blood creeping down his arms and legs from fresh grazes—he is getting better with dodging thrown objects without having to use the _kaiten_ constantly, relying instead on his shifting field of chakra to subtly change an object's course. The _kaiten_ is too much of a drain to use repeatedly, and running too low on chakra, Neji has learned, causes the seal to flare up painfully.

Hiroki's chakra is fitful again, but the Elder waits until there's a pause in the training before calling out. "Neji-kun, may I have a word?"

* * *

Neji and Hiroki wait another two hours outside of Hotaru's hospital room before the chuunin from Intelligence is finished debriefing her. Hiroki has told Neji little—only that Hotaru is alive, injured, and coherent enough to talk to them when she is done reporting the deaths of her sensei and her teammate.

It comes as a surprise when the door slides open—Neji could sense a ninjutsu and hear the utter lack of sound from beyond the door—and the chuunin steps out. "You can see her, now," she says, and the ninjutsu's presence winks out.

Hiroki murmurs thanks, and the scrape of his chair on tile as he pushes himself up to stand covers the chuunin's departing footsteps. Neji stands as well and quietly follows Hiroki into the hospital room, though not far. The background hum of machines is louder in this hospital room than the one Neji woke in last time. He stays by the door, which he shuts.

As soon as the door is closed, Hiroki speaks. "Hotaru-chan—"

"What do you want?" The voice is young and tired, undoubtedly because of the lengthy debriefing, but there is a subtle bite to the question.

"Is that any way to talk to your grandfather?" Hiroki asks.

"What do you want, Elder Hiroki?"

Hiroki's sigh sounds real. "I wanted to make sure you were all right."

"I'm fine. I'll just be assigned a new team when I'm released."

Either the girl is a wonderful actress, or she is surprisingly callous. Neji frowns at her words. A sensei and a teammate dead, the other likely crippled—and the girl says she will just be assigned to a new team? And then he recognizes the attitude, how he first felt when he was assigned a team with Lee, the contempt for those he felt were utterly beneath him in every way . . .

It is an uncomfortably familiar sentiment.

"You'll get a new team, but not right away," Hiroki reassures his granddaughter, though if he happens to think there's something wrong with what she said, it doesn't manifest in his voice.

"What do you mean?"

"You'll need to receive bodyguard training so that you can protect Hinata-sama or Hanabi-sama," Neji says from his place by the door.

He hears the overly starched bed sheets rustle, and when Hotaru's words come, her voice is cautious and uncertain. "That's not my position. That's yours."

"I'm going to die, Hotaru." A part of him is pleased at how easily those words escape. The rest of him focuses on giving the briefest of explanations as to why he will be dead in twelve days and why he needs her to take his place.

There is a long moment of silence when Neji finishes.

"No."

"I think you've mistaken this for a request, Hotaru-chan," Hiroki says in his preternaturally calm voice. "This isn't up to you."

Hiroki's granddaughter doesn't have the same calm. "I refuse to be caught up in another scheme of yours."

"It's not a scheme, it is—"

"You've tried this before, and I already told you—"

"_Hotaru!_" It may be the first time Neji has ever heard the Elder raise his voice, but he has no time to process that because Hotaru speaks right over her grandfather.

"—I won't profit from Neji-san's death!"

It may also be the first time someone has been able to leave the Elder without words.

Neji doesn't realize he has activated his chakra and strode toward the bed until the chakra laps at motionless Hiroki's back.

"Before?" he asks, stopping his forward momentum and letting the chakra dissipate.

Hotaru answers, anger and vindictiveness clear in every syllable. "When you fought Hinata-sama"—there the contempt is plain—"during the Chuunin exams. He pushed for your execution, even though no one else would have minded if you had killed her. He tried to get me to take your place then, too."

Neji remembers being drunk on nearly killing Hinata, how it felt to finally have the rage inside of him satiated, at least in some measure. He had not been aware of any whispered repercussions for his barely justifiable actions.

"Is it true?" Neji keeps his voice polite, though he is holding his emotions so close the seal flares with his tensing body

The words are slow in coming, but they come. "It's true, Neji-kun," Hiroki says, in his old, faintly trembling voice. "It didn't get far because of Hiashi-sama, but I was the main force behind the group insisting you be punished for nearly killing Hinata-sama."

"Why?" He does not mean to ask, but the word slips out regardless.

There is a sigh behind the words. "It was my chance to do something for Hotaru-chan."

Hotaru actually laughs at that statement. "You did it for yourself. You thought—"

They are about to launch into another argument, and Neji cuts them both off. "Enough." He already knew the Elder was doing this for his own gain, and what was done in the past should not matter. Hiroki is a maddening individual, and Neji's trust for him was supposed to extend no further than their current arrangement.

"_Are you being manipulated, Neji?"_

"_No, Hiashi-sama."_

"What I'm doing isn't for either of you," Neji says, in a voice that brooks no argument. "This is for Hyuuga."

Hotaru sounds dubious. "You have that much faith in Hinata-sama?"

"I do." Neji knows she can steer the family off its current track, to persuade them toward a path that will never produce someone like him again. It may not happen within Hinata's lifetime, but it will happen. She will set Hyuuga in motion.

She will make it possible for them to defy their fate.

"Then I'll do it, Neji-san. I'll take your place when you win."

* * *

To Be Continued

in

Chapter Eight: Promises


	8. Promises

Disclaimer: The only things that belong to me are the plot, the original characters, and this particular representation of the Hyuuga and their politics.

Author's Notes: The next chapter will be the last chapter. Here's hoping it comes out soon. Many thanks to Kilerkki, my wonderful beta and even better friend who prevents me from making too big a fool of myself. I also must extend thanks to link no miko, Asuka Kureru, and Koorino Megumi for their support and feedback.

-

Oracle

Chapter Eight: Promises

-

Neji doesn't wipe the sweat from his forehead—the salt water may still sting his sightless eyes, but it is only distracting and not impairing. He fights equally well with his lids open as he does shut, now, and he has better things to do with his hands.

Such as deflecting Kiba's claws before they can slice open his ribs. Neji strikes with his palm to meet the attack, pushing Kiba's arm just enough off course that when he drops his left leg back and twists his torso, Kiba goes hurtling past.

Neji doesn't have time to continue the move and force Kiba into defense because Lee rushes forward, perpendicular to Kiba's line of attack and directly at Neji's newly exposed back.

Kiba and Lee are the most difficult for him to fight—they're so fast that Neji has to spread his chakra out several meters in order to have some idea of where the next attacks will be coming from. Expanding his range forces his chakra to thin out, and it consequently becomes harder to "see." Details become fuzzier, but it is an acceptable trade to get all the warning he can.

The two chuunin force him back, and Neji spends several moments taking and retreating from blows, not able to avoid their attacks as he used to when Kiba and Lee were still adjusting to each other's fighting styles. An opportunity to strike back comes when Kiba's claws rake his right forearm, deep enough to shoot pain up through his shoulder. Neji latches onto Kiba's wrist before the chuunin can draw away or strike again, and, in a move Lee has long become accustomed to, uses Kiba's momentum against him, hurling the Inuzuka away and straight into Lee.

Kiba yells—from the sidelines, Akamaru barks—and sails through the air to clip an incoming Lee. They both tumble to the ground, but before Neji can press his advantage, Gai calls an end to the fight.

Immediately, Neji drops his cloud of chakra and raises his right arm, injured side up, and pulls back his shredded sleeve. He can feel the blood dripping down to his elbow despite his exhaustion and blossoming pain, only now making themselves known. Between the torn fabric and the fact his shirt is likely rapidly soaking up blood in addition to all this morning's sweat, he should just throw it out after the day's training is done, especially since he has only eight days left. He tries to put pressure on the wound, but he has only one hand to use, and the cuts burn from wrist to elbow.

Gai and a Branch med-nin, a regular audience member and injury tender since his thirteenth day, come up beside him while Kiba and Lee untangle themselves with Akamaru barking encouragement. The seal twinges; Neji realizes that his sudden exhaustion has less to do with a strenuous workout and more to do with the blood dropping freely to the dirt and the accompanying pain. How deep did the claws go?

Neji holds still while Gai takes over holding back his sleeve, and the med-nin quickly examines Neji's arm. After a moment, the other Branch speaks. "This needs chakra healing," the man says in a voice trained to be calm and soothing in all circumstances, unless yelling is required.

His right hand is starting to feel cold, despite the late morning sun warming his face. "Go ahead." Neji stops putting pressure on his forearm and holds still while the man sinks his chakra into the wound. The familiar itching sting creeps throughout his right arm, the sign that thousands of cells are duplicating at inhuman rates to repair the damage.

When the healing is finished, the medic supplies him with a blood pill; Neji swallows it dry. A few seconds later new blood rushes through him, making his fingers and toes prickle. Neji breathes deeply and feels his strength slowly start to return. Gai hands him a wad of cloth to wipe away the blood from his arm and hands.

The morning practice ends soon. While the Hokage is going out of her way to give Neji's team and Hinata's team time for training, there are still assignments that need to be completed. The Hokage is assigning the teams short, easy missions in the afternoon and evening hours or making them substitute for some of her staff. Just this morning, Tenten laughed her way through a retelling of Kiba and Shino's adventures freeing up two of the Hokage's assistants for other duties.

"Who came today?" Neji asks Hinata as their group moves through their cool-down stretches. It is another part of the routine, discovering who stays to watch, who leaves, and who keeps coming back.

"Neither Father nor Hanabi came," Hinata answers. "They are probably still training." She rattles off a list of some twenty other people, most of them qualifying as regulars—including a Main Neji does not know but whom Hinata identified as an Elder's nephew some days past. The rest of the group talks quietly, throwing out observations and speculations on their watchers' demeanors. Hinata finishes with, "I still haven't seen Elder Hiroki" and doesn't ask questions about why the Elder hasn't come to watch Neji train since the visit to Hotaru. Neji is not interested in divulging the details, and no one else tries to ask.

The slap of small sandals against the ground catches Neji's attention. The feet stutter to a stop, a few meters from them. "The Hokage is coming!" a girl gasps between breaths, likely having sprinted from the clan gates to their training ground in order to deliver the message. "She's here to see you!"

His shredded right sleeve is still gummy with not-dried blood, and his skin is sticky from hours' worth of sweat. "Did she say why?" Neji asks as he gets to his feet. He has no time to prepare for her arrival, and his gut knots at the awful possibilities as to why Tsunade would show up without warning, in person.

"No, sorry," the messenger child says. "But she's being escorted straight here."

"Thank you."

The girl takes a deep breath before her feet sprint away, undoubtedly to warn Hiashi, and most of their watchers disappear as well. Kiba mutters something to Shino; Akamaru whines. Tenten, Lee, and Gai talk quietly, Tenten hissing something about looking presentable. Hinata stands beside Neji and speaks only to tell him which way to face for the Hokage's arrival. Neji forces himself to ignore the tension in his gut.

The Godaime Hokage arrives almost alone, save for a single person that is undoubtedly a Hyuuga escort. She greets them all by name; Neji bows deeply to her and refuses to show his uneasiness.

"Hokage-sama," Hinata says after greetings are exchanged, "would you like to come in out of the sun?" As if it is her duty—her _right_—to offer hospitality to an honored guest, instead of her father, the Head.

-

They all—Gai's team, Hinata's team, and even Hiashi—gather in the same room where Neji met with the Elders. Tsuande's escort remains outside the sliding door.

Neji keeps his hands loose and still upon his knees. Gai is sitting to his left; Hinata closer on the right. They are all gathered in a scrunched semi-circle before the Hokage, except Hiashi, who is at her side. With most of them fresh from practice, this meeting will need to be short before the room becomes unpleasant to breathe in.

Tsunade declines Hiashi's offer of refreshment. "I had a meeting with an ambassador from Cloud."

Neji's throat feels dry.

"He came to offer reassurance that the attack was not sanctioned by the Raikage," Tsunade continues, "and that it was the action of missing-nin."

"How many Cloud shinobi are in the village?" Hiashi's voice is stiff.

"Only the ambassador." Tsunade pauses. Akamaru growls and Kiba quickly quiets him. "You may take whatever precautions you wish, Hiashi."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." No one needs to be reminded of what happened the last time Cloud delegates were let into Konoha. The seal twitches, and Neji relaxes his jaw.

"In any case, Neji, I wanted to tell you that we've finished with the Cloud medic." Tsunade says. "She will be well enough for you to fight her."

He nods. "Thank you, Hokage-sama." He should not be surprised that the woman broke, though the dark part that threatens to strangle him whenever he remembers her face and the liquid lightning flooding his spine thinks she might have held out too long.

Neji is surprised when Gai's large hand settles on his back, but he does not tense or pull away. The touch is fleeting, and Neji keeps his face toward the Hokage's voice. "And Hotaru?"

"She'll be just fine."

And the final pieces of his last ambition fall securely into place. It is as if he can breathe deeply again for the first time since his sight was taken, since he woke with death smothering him in the hospital bed. Death is still there, his constant companion, but its nearness is no longer stifling.

He will die in eight days, on his own terms, by his own merits.

-

They all leave the room save the Hokage and Hiashi; Hinata's team has a mission. Neji exchanges farewells and walks away from the low murmur of his uncle and his Hokage's voices.

But not far from the room, his teammate's footsteps slow to a halt. "Neji?" It's Tenten's voice.

Neji stops. "What is it?"

There is a lengthy pause, as if she is searching for words. Finally, she speaks. "We want you to stay with us. On your last night."

"At my home," Gai adds in quietly.

"No." It slips out wrong, and Neji swallows hastily to clear his throat. "I already have something I need to do. But the night before that, I'll be there."

He can almost hear the smile in Lee's voice. "So will we."

-

The first heat of Fire Country's summer slowly seeps into his final days. He throws out his bloodied and ripped training clothes and throws himself into his training. It is not out of desperation so much as it is about completion: his internal countdown is no longer smothering, but it is omnipresent and unrelenting.

His days slip away beneath sweat and sun, blood and spikes of pain, days of dust-coated throats and an aching seal and the careful skirting of mentions of his end. They are solemn days, witnessed days, and he would not want them otherwise.

Hotaru is released from the hospital, and she joins the crowd that watches him. After each day's training, she earnestly questions him about who he was and what he did and how she can become the shinobi he is now.

-

On his second-to-last night, Tenten and Lee take him to their sensei's home. There, they celebrate.

They tell stories; Neji listens. He finds himself smiling on occasion, and Gai's laughter rattles the walls. Lee slaps him hard on the back, and Tenten flicks food wrappers at whoever happens to be teasing her.

They talk; sometimes, Neji speaks. Lee gives him more than one bone-crushing hug, and Tenten brushes a kiss he can barely feel against the ruin of his eyes. He thanks them for their help, and Gai rests a hand on his shoulder.

They weep; Neji's throat burns. And when they retire for the night, they lay their futons around him.

-

Neji refuses to draw out the farewells. After their last training session is complete, he simply tells them goodbye.

His teammates and sensei hug him. Kiba slaps a hand onto his shoulder; his nails dig in briefly. Akamaru suddenly licks his palm, and Shino only says that he will be there the next morning. The rest of them agree, and they do not linger, for which Neji is grateful.

Hinata guides him to the Branch House entry way and then departs without a word. She will meet him when he needs her assistance again. Neji strides to his room to fetch some of his remaining clean clothing and then finds his way to the baths.

He is meticulous. The courtyard gong marks an hour before Neji is certain he has rid himself of all the grime he cannot see. When he returns to his room, he dries his hair, carefully combs it through, and ties it back.

Once he finishes, he lays out two sets of clothing on his table. The first set is his newest training clothes, bought before his final mission. His fingers cannot find any patches required because of Tenten's unerring aim, and Hinata claimed it was free from stains caused by Lee's impossible throws.

The second set is his only formal wear, though it can barely be considered that. Beyond a slight difference in cut, the only difference between these clothes and his normal ones is the material they are made from. He considered wearing the rich clothing for his end—he can acknowledge his pride—but his practicality reminds him tomorrow will be his last fight, and he cannot fight cleanly. The clan will also need to cremate him in something besides his training or mission clothes, and these will do.

Neji runs his fingers over the smooth fabric once, twice, before settling on a sitting cushion. He keeps his back straight, shoulders squared, and breathes in deeply, catching the faint scent of a summer out of reach.

He waits.

-

-

To Be Concluded

in

Chapter Nine: Fate

-

-


	9. Fate

Disclaimer: The only things that belong to me are the plot, the original characters, and this particular representation of the Hyuuga and their politics.

Author's Notes: It's finally over. Thank you to all you readers who have hung in through the years. Special thanks to Kilerkki and link no miko, who have supported me from the beginning.

-

Oracle

Chapter Nine: Fate

-

Neji spends his final afternoon in silence. He meditates for the most part, searching for the place within himself where he can be still, where unstable emotions cannot exist. When he finally finds it, he lies down and lets the daily noise of the compound lull him to sleep. He must be well-rested for the morning, and he will not sleep this night.

A persistent knock at his door wakes him before the cool of evening has set in. He sits up and focuses on the chakra signature outside the room. It is Hinata. "Come in."

It takes a moment for her to open the door, and when she does step inside she brings the smell of rice with her. "Neji-niisan, I brought you dinner." He hears his door slide shut, a whisper of wood-on-wood, and a few seconds later the tiny impact of a tray on his table.

"Thank you," he says. It takes him just a few steps to get to the table.

As he settles on a sitting cushion, Hinata asks, "The clothes on the table are the ones you want?" Her voice, though subdued, does not waiver.

Neji nods.

"I'm going to move them so you can eat," she says. He hears fabric slide across wood, and a few seconds later the dishes clink softly as Hinata removes lids. The smell of warm rice and fish envelop him, and he is reminded that he has not eaten since dawn. Hinata does not guide his hands to the dishes; instead, she tells him where everything is located on the tray as she pours him tea. If he spills, she does not comment, and she does not interrupt him as he consumes his final meal.

Once he sets his chopsticks aside, Hinata speaks. "Do you want to go now?"

"Yes." He asked Hinata not to come until after the sun set, and he can put it off no longer. They both rise from the table, Hinata murmuring about taking care of the tray and the clothing she moved later. Hinata opens the door while Neji sends out his chakra so he can walk without having to hang onto her.

They do not speak as Hinata walks by his side out of the building and to the only public area of the compound that he avoided his last month. The breeze outside is barely enough to shift the leaves, but it carries the smell of funeral flowers nonetheless. He doesn't recognize the jumbled scents, and he prefers it that way.

"Here," Hinata says when she finally stops. Neji stops, too. "I'll come back at dawn."

He thanks her and then waits for her to leave; she doesn't move. In the distance, he can hear the sounds of conversation and a clan settling in for the night.

The moment stretches thin. Neji is the one to speak first. "Is there something you need, Hinata-sama?"

Hinata doesn't answer immediately, and Neji feels the beginnings of worry. Did something change while he slept? They have only a few hours left, and problems now could mean the end of everything.

"Neji-niisan," Hinata begins and stops. She tries again. "What you said earlier—I promise."

She reaches through his chakra fearlessly, to press her fingertips against the ruin of his eyes. Neji stays very still, and listens to her whisper. "Whether it is me or Hanabi, Hyuuga will change." Hinata pulls her hand back and steps away, disappearing from his view of the world. "There will never be another Hyuuga like you."

The question he has been wanting to ask since the night he faced the Elders burns in his throat. "Wait." The command escapes suddenly, and his hand twitches as if to grab a wrist he cannot see. He stills his fingers by his side.

Hinata's footsteps pause. "What is it?"

His voice back under control, Neji finally asks. "Why did you do this?" He is not arrogant enough to assume it was for him alone. He remembers her words in the hospital, about how she couldn't send Hanabi to the Branch, how she couldn't just let him die.

"I—" Hinata starts and stops. Silence drifts between them like a cloud of dust. He is close to telling her she needn't answer when she speaks again. "I know I can't change this family by myself," she says, her words quiet. "Ever since you started to change, I thought . . . I knew that you could help me."

Neji remembers yelling at her in the hospital, accusing her of throwing away the opportunity to change the family when she sacrificed her status for a month of his life. Had she felt a similar despair when she heard of his blindness?

"And then I heard what happened, and I didn't want it all to start over again, I couldn't—" she takes a deep breath "—I couldn't lose the hope that we could change."

-

Only after Hinata's presence has faded away does Neji settle down by his father's grave marker. The grass prickles his toes, and he remembers his father's voice and large, rough hand.

_Neji, you must live_.

What would Hizashi say if he were here now? Neji does not know. All he has left of his father are the twisted, imperfect memories of an anguished child and Hiashi's explanation of his twin's final choice. Would Hizashi have approved of what Neji has done with his final month?

He prays so, with a child's desperate need for approval. The intensity of the desire staggers him, making his breath catch in his throat. He smoothes his hands over his knees and regulates his breathing with the small motions.

He has no way of knowing what Hizashi would say, not with any certainty. Neji remembers what Hiashi told him of Hizashi's reasoning on the day he stepped forward to die, and for all that Neji does not doubt the veracity of the tale, he still cannot know with absolute certainty nor can he hear the words he craves, even in his imagination. (His sharpest memories are of the bitter moments with his father, and cynicism is not kind.) Speculation is only speculation—fruitless and without purpose, he tells himself as he steps back from the irrational desire. As if a dead man could have an opinion of any weight.

But the desire to _know_ the unknowable, raw inside his head and his gut, cannot be banished and accompanies him throughout the night.

-

Hours later Neji is still wrestling with his irrationality when he hears footsteps nearby, jerking him from his inward contemplation. He should have sensed someone approaching before he could hear their movements. The disgust in his lapse is overshadowed by a surge of emotion he does not have time to contemplate or name. "Elder Hiroki," he says into the night. He shifts away from his father's marker and kneels to face the sound.

"Neji-kun." The Elder's amiable tone drifts closer. "It's been a while."

He can make no reply that will not embitter his throat, and tonight Neji will not be silent. "What are you doing here?" While the form is polite, the function is unmistakable.

"I can't sleep," Hiroki says, the amusement that always rankled flitting about in the now-cool air. "I thought to see what adventure the night might bring me. Perhaps it would tire my body out enough that it could be sensible again."

"What are you doing here?" Neji asks again. He fights to keep his jaw and back relaxed—he does not wish to provoke the unstable seal tonight.

Hiroki sighs, lending the smallest bit of strength to the breeze. "So suspicious."

_Are you being manipulated, Neji?_

"If you're here to stare, then leave," Neji says and punctuates his words by turning back to face his father's marker, dry summer grass crackling beneath him.

"Ah, but what if I'm here to confess?" The words are idle, teasing, and Neji does not believe them.

He takes a slow, calming breath to center himself again. The air is crisp over his tongue. "I'm not here for you to cleanse yourself. Unless it has anything to do with my chances tomorrow, then you don't need to be here."

The Branch grave markers quickly swallow up Hiroki's laughter. "And I suppose if I were to actually give you a confession, you'd believe I was only telling you what I thought you'd want to hear on the night before you died.

"So here are the words you want to hear from me, Neji-kun: I used your predicament for my own ends." Hiroki enunciates each syllable, like a parent teaching a child how to say a particularly difficult word.

"Leave."

Hiroki continues without pause. "I tried to have you executed when you nearly killed Hinata-sama. I thought it absurd for her to sacrifice her standing to give you one final month of misery."

"Are you finished?" Neji's fingers tremble as they grip his knees. He does not want to hear these things from Hiroki, whether they are true or not. He does not want the vice-like control he has been wielding over his emotions to crack further.

"Almost," Hiroki answers, the word caught in the air between them. "I thought when I first saw you that you were pitiful and barely useful."

"I said—"

"I am grateful Hotaru-chan has the chance to succeed you," Hiroki says relentlessly, "because I know that she needs Hyuuga to change as much as you did."

The words clatter into each other in the night air, and Neji is suddenly conscious of his nails digging into his knees and the hint of throbbing from the seal.

"You've started this change, you and Hinata-sama. It's probably too late for most of us, and it's certainly too late for you and me," Hiroki says easily to Neji's bristling back. "But I am content to see change set in motion."

-

The gong in the courtyard heralds the dawn. Neji turns his face to the east, breathes deep, and waits for the sun's rays to break over the compound wall and wash over his face. Hinata should be returning soon, and he savors his last moments alone.

Neither answers nor understanding came to him in the night. He isn't sure why he thought they might, but still he feels a piercing dissatisfaction that they did not. Perhaps he should have stayed with his team again, instead of by a voiceless marker, but Neji quickly shakes away those thoughts. He does not want to be plagued with regret, not when he can feel that old, familiar knot of anger and fear and hate within reach.

Early summer birds rouse and chatter as the faintest sunlight begins to warm Neji's eyelids. He listens to their cries and calls, marking the sounds they leave trailing through the air, and wonders where they head.

When he has his fill of dawn, Neji rises to his feet, feeling stiff from night air and stillness. He exhales slowly and pushes out with his chakra. The cloud of energy crackles the dry grass all around as Neji begins his normal stretching routine amongst the markers.

The moments slide through his hands like water as his body warms up from the motion and the sun. Eventually, he begins to move through a string of kata. For a countless span of time, there is nothing beyond his world but the pull of muscles and tendons, the birdcalls in the air, the morning sun's rays against his skin, and the smell of crushed blades of grass.

Hinata's presence pulls him out of his serenity and out of his kata. He bows in her direction and drops his cloud of chakra to greet her.

She approaches when he straightens from his bow. "Are you ready?" she asks quietly. Her steady voice anchors him to this early summer morning, and he finds that comforting.

"I am."

-

Neji changes into the training clothing he left out the day before while Hinata goes to greet their friends. He dresses meticulously—not to delay, but to ensure what he can of perfection—and once he is finished, he allows Hiashi inside his room. There they discuss what to do with his possessions and the bounty that will be his for killing a missing-nin.

Before they head for the courtyard, Hiashi rests a hand on Neji's right shoulder. It is a fleeting, silent moment, but it is eloquent enough.

-

He can hear the crowd and feel the hum of active jutsu as he and Hiashi head toward the courtyard. Tsunade said she would bring an ANBU squad to set up a barrier so the med-nin cannot escape.

Neji follows Hiashi into the center of the training grounds, paying little attention as the crowd quiets and the Head of Hyuuga welcomes the clan, the Elders, the Hokage, and the ambassador from Cloud. Neji is focused on the cluster of chakra signatures a few meters away. There are three—two surprisingly strong, and a third between them, nightmarishly familiar.

His very blood knows the chakra that invaded his system and sparked lightning in his marrow. He waits, a count of _two_, _three_, _four_, but neither anger nor terror floods his thoughts. Only a memory of pain and a woman's gray eyes dart by, insubstantial in their briefness.

Hiashi finishes with his words, and Neji steps forward, settling into the familiar stance a final time: legs shoulder width apart, one forward, one back; hands held palm outward; forearms parallel to the earth. He breathes in deeply, swimming in the scent of anticipation.

Lee shouts encouragement, a sudden crack in the solemn morning, and an instant later the air thunders with countless voices.

"Release her!" Tsunade shouts, her voice cutting through the noise. Before the words are finished, the ANBU barrier encompasses the battleground. Neji expands his cloud of chakra, throwing it to his limit to mark the shapes and pressures of the world.

He barely has time to examine the hard-packed earth around him before a kunai slices into his field. He twists easily out of the way, and the fight begins.

-

-

End

Thank you for reading.

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